 Sheared quartic double-well gradient flow

The completed-square form gives global minima at $(1,-1)$ and $(-1,1)$, both with value $-1$, and a saddle point at $(0,0)$ with value zero. Negative levels split into two closed components; the zero contour joins their lobes at the saddle. The gradient flow $\dot{x}=-V_x,\dot{y}=-V_y$ decreases $V$ by the gradient-flow dissipation identity. A negative initial level traps each trajectory on its original side of $x=0$, because $V(0,y)\ge 0$.