50 Strangest Movie Relationships

Clarice and Hannibal - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

The Strange Relationship: There's no denying it's a brilliant and thrilling story, but the heart of this movie lies in the platonic but undeniably strange bond between Clarice (Jodie Foster) and Hannibal (Anthony Hopkins).

The troubled detective is coerced into joining forces with cinema's favourite psychopath to create a dream team that gave us nightmares - their relationship is twisted from the out, as Clarice begins to form an unhappy reliance on Lecter.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Not only could it work, it could get a whole lot weirder. At least Clarice manages to keep it professional and doesn't become an obsessed, letter-writing death row superfan...

Michael and Hanna - The Reader (2008)

The Strange Relationship: We're given yet another highly inappropriate age gap in Stephen Daldry's emotional drama The Reader , as fifteen-year-old Michael (David Kross) becomes entangled in a clandestine affair with train conductor Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet).

Cue countless long baths and erotically charged readings.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? It's the Mrs Robinson effect - unlikely to last (and in this case ends in jail).

The Narrator / Tyler and Marla - Fight Club (1999)

The Strange Relationship: Poor Marla inadvertently enters into a threeway relationship with The Narrator (Ed Norton) and his imaginary friend (Brad Pitt), leading to much confusion over The Narrator's erratic behaviour.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Probably not, it would be too difficult to arrange dates.

Allen and Madison - Splash (1984)

The Strange Relationship: Forget strange, this one is downright fishy! (Sorry, so very sorry).

Tom Hanks plays the chap enamoured with real life mermaid Madison (Daryl Hannah) in this fantastical comedy caper.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? The movie ends with Allen following his lady under the sea to start a new life in the deep, but with his legs and her tail we can't begin to imagine what they'll do to pass the time.

Also - surely he'd run out of puff before the credits even finished rolling?

Ballard and Helen - Crash (1996)

The Strange Relationship: After enduring a brutal traffic accident, James Ballard (James Spader) finds himself caught up in a dark world of car crash fetishists, and starts an illicit affair with fellow survivor Helen (Holly Hunter).

Famed for its graphic violence and sex scenes, David Cronenberg's thriller follows James's descent into this strange scene, as his sexual acts become more and more disturbing.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Sadly, it definitely could - symphorophilia is a real condition where people are aroused by accidents or catastrophes.

Larry and Ricki - Gigli (2003)

The Strange Relationship: We'd just like to remind you that this is the film that received a Razzie for "Worst Comedy of Our First 25 Years". Ouch.

In the a plot twist straight out of the mind of horny teenage boy, Gigli (Ben Affleck) manages to convince his lesbian associate Ricki (Jennifer Lopez) to turn renounce her lover and turn straight just for him.

It's turkey time!

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? We can certifiably say no to this one. It's a scenario that belongs in a bad porno, and nowhere else.

Calvin and Ruby - Ruby Sparks (2012)

The Strange Relationship: Struggling novelist Calvin (Paul Dano) manages to kick his writer's block when he creates the character of Ruby (Zoe Kazan), who, much to his surprise, becomes a real girl and wanders into his bedroom one morning.

Naturally, it doesn't take long before Calvin is head-over-heels for his leading lady. After all, he did invent her.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? We're pretty sure it'd end up the same way in real life as it did in the movie - Calvin would get carried away with his total control over Ruby and turn his live-in lover into nothing more than a pretty puppet.

Oskar and Eli - Let The Right One In (2008)

The Strange Relationship: This haunting adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's bestselling horror novel follows the bullied and lonely Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) as he befriends Eli (Lina Leandersson), a young vampire.

The strange bond that forms between these two outcasts is enchanting (if not terrifying), and director Tomas Alfredson even toned down much of the book's action to focus more on their relationship.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Lonely twelve-year-olds often make friends with the wrong people, but Eli and Oskar's friendship leads to way too much gruesome death for us to give it a thumbs up.

Ted and Tami-Lynn - Ted (2012)

The Strange Relationship : Foul-mouthed magical teddy bear Ted (Seth MacFarlane) is charming, there's no denying it, but it's still very bizarre picturing him getting busy with supermarket checkout totty Tami-Lynn.

How is that even possible?!

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Lets keep teddy bears for cuddling. Please?

Kip and LaFawnduh - Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

The Strange Relationship: When Napoleon's (Jon Heder) weedy brother Kip Dynamite (Aaron Ruell) boasts about spending his time chatting to "babes" on the web, no one could ever have imagined LaFawnduh (Shondrella Avery).

She's twice his height and twice his width, but after an impromptu hip-hop make-over and a couple of dance lessons, these two unlikely lovebirds ride off into the sunset together. Literally.

Could It Ever Work In Real-Life? Oh we hope so. Just for the song that Kip sings his lady at their wedding - "Yes, I love technology, but not as much as you, you see".