Martin's Musings

Watching Celine Song’s excellent new film, Past Lives, I found myself thinking of Sliding Doors. 

In that 1998 high-concept film, Gwyneth Paltrow plays a woman who exists in two different realities: One in which she just misses getting on a subway train, and the other where she makes it just in time. The film hinges on the concept of “What if?” and we see what happens in both timelines, so we don’t have to wonder.

Like Sliding Doors, Past Lives examines how the notions of fate, love, and the choices we make affect the lives we lead.

But in Past Lives — which, to be absolutely clear, is a much better film than Sliding Doors — we don’t get the benefit of seeing what would have happened had things been different. Instead, the question of “What if?” hangs over the entire film.