You know those things you shouldn’t like but you do? Well I quite like a good romantic comedy, even though blokes are not supposed to like them. I also like children’s’ adventure films, shoot-‘em-up thrillers and detective stories. They appeal to different parts of me, and I’ve reached an age where I don’t mind indulging my inner child, romantic or tough guy, and I don’t mind owning up to it. I want to cheer the hero, boo the villain and so on. The analytical part of me sits back and notes that half the time our hero walks into trouble by making silly choices or not planning ahead, but then there wouldn’t be much of a story if he or she didn’t have a sticky situation to escape from!
Last night I re-watched Sliding Doors. It’s slick, clever, funny and romantic, and for those of you who have never seen it it’s based on the life of a girl who catches the tube home one day to catch her boyfriend in bed with his ex, then in a different scene misses the train and doesn’t catch him. The two stories play out in parallel, and in the one where she catches the boyfriend she leaves him and then falls in love with the sweet, funny new guy who picks up her dropped earring in the lift. In the other life she works two jobs, getting increasingly exhausted as her man two-times her with the wicked ex. I won’t spoil the end for you if you haven’t seen it. It’s a great film, not least because it’s the best illustration of the difficult concept of parallel universes that I’ve seen, so watch it for that if nothing else.
In the movie the two story lines are in existence, separated by the sliding doors incident. According to some theorists, there are many more worlds alongside each other, all in existence, all waiting for us to enter – or not. One of the worlds which exists for us all is the one we often see in chick flicks – where she believes the cheating boyfriend and gives him another chance, goes back, leaves him again and so on. I see it sometimes with clients who come to see me in a dilemma over a relationship – do I go or stay? Or it might be a job, a career choice or a friendship. Do I take a chance and move on, or do I stay safe? We need to make a decision, and step bravely into a new world, with all its possibilities, challenges and rewards – or we’ll never know how the story could have ended, will we?
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