Ingmar Bergman & Max von Sydow
The Shared CV: Bergman was a polygamist when it came to film partnerships - we might just as easily have chosen Bibi Andersson or Liv Ullman - but from the moment von Sydow played chess with Death in The Seventh Seal , he became the most famous of Bergman's repertory company.
Defining Traits: von Sydow's sonorous voice and imposing granite features didn't do anything to dispel Bergman's reputation for gloominess over their 11 films together.
Going Solo: Bergman had enough strength in depth to make classics without Max ( Persona , Cries And Whispers , Fanny And Alexander ); von Sydow found a lucrative sideline in Hollywood, working for Spielberg and Scorsese - not to mention playing Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon .
Paul Thomas Anderson & Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Shared CV: Anderson was one of the film directors to spot Hoffman's potential, casting him in debut Hard Eight and all but one of his subsequent films.
Defining Traits: Hoffman's versatility means he's impossible to pigeonhole - the timidity of his characters in Boogie Nights and Magnolia has given way to bullying swagger in Punch-Drunk Love and, reportedly, a charismatic cult leader in the forthcoming The Master .
Going Solo: Both have prospered. Hoffman has become the most reliable character actor in Hollywood, and won an Oscar for Capote ; while Anderson's one film without Hoffman, There Will Be Blood , is widely regarded as the finest film of the past decade.
David Cronenberg & Viggo Mortensen
The Shared CV: Cronenberg had never made back-to-back films with the same star. Then he met Mortensen, and made three together in a row.
Defining Traits: Mortensen's mix of civilised intellectualism and brooding machismo made an immediate impact on Cronenberg, bringing a pulp-noir edge to A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises .
Going Solo: Cronenberg, more prolific than he's been for years, leapt into Cosmopolis without Viggo, but the star has confirmed his post-Aragorn greatness with The Road .
Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell
The Shared CV: High school friends, Campbell became part of Raimi's film gang with no-budget short Within The Woods and hasn't left.
Defining Traits: They started out in horror, but a shared goofball sensibility gradually transformed Campbell's signature role, Ash, into everybody's favourite wisecracking slayer of the undead.
Going Solo: Raimi hit the big league (but still casts Campbell when he can: he's in all three Spider-man movies). Campbell, meanwhile, became a cult icon and found a suitable non-Raimi vehicle with Bubba Ho-Tep .
Christopher Nolan & Michael Caine
The Shared CV: Caine was hired to play Alfred in Batman Begins , and has appeared in all of Nolan's film since, whether featuring the caped crusader or not.
Defining Traits: Nolan uses Caine's lifelong experience wisely; the actor is an observer on the margins in his films, providing reliable advice and judgement to the main character.
Going Solo: Caine has been notoriously unfussy about his choices and remains so (for every Children Of Men , there's a Journey 2: The Mysterious Island ). As for Nolan, he has to stop casting Caine before we can judge.
John Cassavetes & Gena Rowlands
The Shared CV: The godfather of American indie met and married Rowlands while both were struggling actors; together, they made seven films that changed the style of American directing and acting.
Defining Traits: Bravery. Cassavetes pushed Rowlands into uncompromising, psychologically nuanced performances like A Woman Under The Influence .
Going Solo: Cassavetes died from alcohol-induced cirrhosis, aged 59, in 1989. Rowlands continues to act; aptly, her most famous recent role, in The Notebook , was directed by her and John's son, Nick Cassavetes.
Roberto Rossellini & Ingrid Bergman
The Shared CV: The Hollywood icon went to Italy to star in Rossellini's Stromboli and fell in love. Both were married, causing a scandal that kept Bergman out of American cinema for many years, during which she starred for Rossellini another four times.
Defining Traits: A blurring of the boundaries between Rossellini's traditional neo-realism and Hollywood fantasy, most eloquently expressed in 1954's Journey To Italy .
Going Solo: The couple separated in the mid-1950s. Bergman returned triumphantly to Hollywood with the Oscar-winning Anastasia ; Rossellini settled into being an elder statesman of European art cinema.
Quentin Tarantino & Uma Thurman
The Shared CV: Only the three films (two depending on how you score Kill Bill ), but Thurman is undeniably QT's muse.
Defining Traits: Slinky, sexy, bad-ass - Thurman is a living doll for Tarantino to work out his exploitation pic fantasies on-screen. Kill Bill was written specifically for her.
Going Solo: Tarantino's made more films without her than with her, but not by much. These days, most people would be hard pushed to name a decent Uma Thurman movie directed by anybody else.
Pedro Almodovar & Antonio Banderas
The Shared CV: The Spanish sex-symbol became the face (and body) of Almodovar's 1980s breakthroughs; they reunited to great effect in last year's The Skin I Live In .
Defining Traits: Almodovar brought the heat to Pedro's subversive stew of taboo-busting melodramas, whether playing a gay Matador or a kinky kidnapper in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
Going Solo: Banderas' work with Almodovar was the launchpad for his Hollywood career; the director stayed in Spain to create a near-perfect run of art-house classics.
Anthony Mann & James Stewart
The Shared CV: Jimmy Stewart had memorable partnerships with Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock, but it was Mann who - over eight films - turned the star's career around.
Defining Traits: The Glenn Miller Story is textbook 'nice guy' Stewart, but Mann drew out the actor's dark side in five psychological Westerns, notably Winchester '73 and The Naked Spur .
Going Solo: Mann's example led Stewart to Hitchcock and Vertigo ; the director himself upgraded from Westerns to epics like El Cid , although he was fired from Spartacus .
