# Q about Time Traveler's Wife (movie) - NOT a spoiler **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 8, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535 "2018-07-08T22:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/1 "2018-07-08T22:05:16Z")
At least, I hope this won’t give away any plot points… I just saw the movie on tv. In the final scene, there is a closeup of a pair of shoes. There are no shoelaces in those shoes, and that seems odd to me. Can anyone explain, please? (My guess is that the answer is obvious to those who have read the book, which I did not. In which case, maybe the question is a spoiler, for which I apologize.) ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/2 "2018-07-09T01:31:06Z")
Interestingly, one of the items in the [IMDB Trivia section](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452694/trivia) mentions this scene, and says > [@IMDB](#): > > This is a reference to the cover art of one edition of the book, which features a young girl (visible only from mid-leg down) standing next to a brown pair of loafers in a field. You can see that cover art at the [Wikipedia article about the novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Traveler%27s_Wife), and in that cover art the shoes DO have shoelaces! Should I submit this to the “Continuity” errors at IMDB? Those shoes were large and in the foreground of that scene. The missing shoelaces must have been deliberate, but I can’t figure out why. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/3 "2018-07-09T18:38:21Z")
I’ve both read the book and seen the movie (the book is quite a bit better IMHO). I don’t recall that the shoelaces are significant. The girl brings clothes and shoes for her future husband, who she knows will be appearing from his next time-jump bare-assed nekkid. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/4 "2018-07-10T13:37:51Z")
Wait… loafers? They shouldn’t have laces anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/5 "2018-07-10T18:57:27Z")
Good question. If you want to see the discussed scene search “time traveler’s wife ending” on youtube. The shoes clearly have rows of eyelets and are clearly missing the laces. Someone in wardrobe or props purposely did it for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/6 "2018-07-11T02:29:09Z")
Thank you, Shoeless. (Heh, what an appropriate username for this thread!) Most likely, use of the word “loafers” was an error by whoever posted that comment on IMDB. Another possibility is that there is an edition of the printed novel where the picture on the cover really is of laceless loafers, but the edition whose picture is in Wikipedia does have laces. ---
**Author:** ![Tdeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Tdeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tdeah)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2026, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-time-travelers-wife-movie-not-a-spoiler/817535/7 "2026-03-01T06:22:35Z")
Answer: The shoelaces were time travelers that’s why they were missing…