25 Years of Love and Laughter

The trials and tribulations of love are a popular topic for the big screen. We revisit some of our favourite rom-com films from 1998, which was something of a classic year for the genre!

-  CLAIRE SAUL

Sliding Doors

Writer and director Peter Howitt's inspiration for this 1998 hit was all too real, derived from an incident that happened after he'd decided to phone a friend while walking down London's Charing Cross Road.

"I saw this phone box on the other side of the road and for whatever reason, what I call the cerebral flipping of the coin - we make a thousand of these decisions a day - I came down on phone him now. I obeyed that instruction and just walked straight into the road without looking where I was going. And I nearly got hit square-on by a car, which screeched to a halt within an inch of me."

Sliding Doors was the result of his following "what if?" contemplations. After Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) is fired from her job, she hurries to catch a train on the London Underground. We then experience what Howitt's real life scenario could not - two alternative versions of events after a specific point in time.

In one version, Helen catches the train, sitting next to eventual love interest James (John Hannah). In the alternative scenario, the train's doors slide shut and she misses it, leading to a whole different chain of circumstances. Thankfully the two Helens soon sport different hairdos, helping us to keep up with each storyline as it unfolds in parallel.

Shakespeare In Love

William Shakespeare is the grand master of romantic comedy but in this film, the Bard (Joseph Fiennes) himself is the lead character, struggling to write and lacking inspiration for Romeo And Ethel, The Pirate's Daughter, until he meets his muse, the beautiful Viola de Lesseps.

The star-laden film made us laugh for its Shakespearean tropes, such as disguised genders, handy coincidences and larger-than-life characterisations (looking at you, Imelda Staunton), but also for its modern-day references.

"Follow that boat!" Shakespeare says to a Thames ferryman.