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  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

50 Strangest Movie Relationships

Features
By Jen published 23 January 2014

Love means never having to say you're sorry... ish

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The Trash Humpers - Trash Humpers (2009)

The Strange Relationship: Director Harmony Korine's experimental movie offers the audience a look into a weird world where three sociopathic geriatrics get busy with various inanimate objects - anything from trees to the titular trash cans get a look in.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Wandering around Tennessee humping bins isn't exactly the most stimulating of relationships, but we're just waiting for the day when there's a Channel 4 exposé documentary on the topic. It could happen.

Viktor and Simone - S1m0ne (2002)

The Strange Relationship: The original (and platonic) version of Spike Jonze's Her , S1m0ne follows film director Viktor (Al Pacino) as he creates a CGI actress (Rachel Roberts) for his new movie.

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He quickly discovers that having a leading lady that you've invented makes filming much smoother, and soon finds himself dedicated to keeping up the walking, talking lie that is Simone.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? That's a resounding yes. Remember when cinema's certified kook Charlie Kaufman credited the movie Adaption to him and his twin brother Donald who he'd invented?

Josh and Susan - Big (1988)

The Strange Relationship: Josh Baskin (Tom Hanks) may look like a grown-up, but he's really just a twelve-year-old who got magically plonked into a bigger body thanks to an arcade machine.

Josh's new bod impresses fellow adult Sarah Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins) enough for the pair to strike up a romance, which is all fine and dandy until you remember that Josh is still mentally a pre-teen. And then things start to feel very weird.

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Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? If we were feeling very snarky, we could make some comment about how men are all emotionally teenagers anyway so it makes no real difference, but we'll skip that one for now.

Clare and Henry - The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

The Strange Relationship: This schmaltzy adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's bestselling novel tells the tale of Clare (Rachel McAdams) and Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana), a couple who's lives are determined by Henry's very unusual condition.

His sporadic and uncontrollable time travelling means that Henry and Clare's marriage is far from ordinary - she's never quite sure when a past, nude version of her husband might appear in the middle of the living room.

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Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Yes, but it wouldn't be easy. Henry's unpredictable tendency to vanish during times of high stress makes him a particularly unstable romantic partner, but these two are so in love that little things like time travel simply can't get in their way.

Clive, Elsa and Dren - Splice (2009)

The Strange Relationship: If you've ever wondered what it would be like to play God and create human life then think again.

When genetic engineer partners Clive (Adrien Brody) and Elsa (Sarah Polley) manage to generate a highly illegal human hybrid it seems reason to celebrate, but their subject Dren (Delphine Chanéac) and her accelerated development leads to some very damaging situations.

Things take an incredibly weird turn when Dren seduces her creator Clive and they engage in some scientifically baffling love-making, much to Elsa's distress.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Dren does look a bit too much like a bald cat to ever pass as a normal girl, and her tendencies for violence (and eating adorable bunnies) might make it a bit too tricky.

Brittany, Candy and Alien - Spring Breakers (2012)

The Strange Relationship: It's the ambiguity of it all - are college girls Brittany (Ashley Benson) and Candy (Vanessa Hudgens) being coerced into a world of sex, drugs and murder, or do they actually have total power over James Franco's slurring rapper Alien?

This strange threesome form a unique bond, held together mainly by their shared love of causing havoc, and Alien even goes as far as calling the girls his "soul mates".

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? In another world, Alien and his girls could have lived a long life together full of neon swimwear and Scarface on repeat, but we reckon they'd be doomed - the police would have to catch up with them eventually. They did kill a lot of people, after all.

Benjamin, Elaine and Mrs Robinson - The Graduate (1967)

The Strange Relationship: It's not even the age gap that makes this one strange - it's the fact that Ben (Dustin Hoffman) gets romantically involved with a young girl AND her mother. That makes for a very awkward family reunion.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? With Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft)? No. With the lovely Elaine (Katharine Ross)? We really hope so. Who doesn't love the interrupted wedding scene?

Alex and Marie - Switchblade Romance (2003)

The Strange Relationship: When it comes to big shock twists, this is one of cinema's greatest. (Don't read on if you're yet to watch the movie)

College friends Marie (Cécile de France) and Alex (Maïwenn Besco) are having a jolly old time heading to Alex's family home for the weekend. Until all the murdering starts.

It seems as if Marie is our hero, repeatedly saving Alex from a home-invading slasher, but all is not quite as it seems as we discover that Marie's all-encompassing love for her friend has driven her to psychotic meltdown; she is the woman on a murderous rampage. And all because she wants some alone time with Alex.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Unlikely - Marie's feelings for Alex seem to be very much unrequited, and we can't imagine Alex is feeling in the mood after watching her entire family die in gruesome manners.

Lon and Mathilda - Lon: The Professional (1994)

The Strange Relationship: After the brutal massacring of twelve-year-old Mathilda's (Natalie Portman) family, she teams up with solitary neighbour Léon (Jean Reno), hoping to pick up a few tips from the hit man and use them to exact her revenge.

Their feelings for each other definitely run deeper than a usual guardian / ward situation and director Luc Besson cleverly skates the line between strange and downright inappropriate (aka when Mathilda tells a hotel clerk that they're lovers).

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Give Mathilda a few more years to, you know, turn eighteen, and maybe, but we prefer these two as a platonic 'cleaning' partnership.

Dae-su and Mi-do - Oldboy (2003)

The Strange Relationship: Released from captivity after fifteen years, Dae-Su (Choi Min-sik) meets young chef Mi-Do (Kang Hye-jung) and is overwhelmingly happy to have both a partner in crime and some human contact again.

However, the big reveal that *spoiler alert* she's actually his long lost daughter turns what could have been a romantic sub-plot into a harrowing twist.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? No, no, no. We all know how this one ends - incest and tongue-removal does not constitute a happy ending.

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