10 Cinematic Heterosexual Chemistries that Scorched the Screen
July 6th 2011 20:05
As with the LGBT chemistries list, the criteria here needed to be far more specific than your general cinematic romantic entanglements. Let’s face it; nearly every single film has some sort of male/female romantic relationship occurring one way or another (even the LGBT ones!) In order to create this list, one needed to scale back in their thinking and really focus on the ‘scorching’ part of the list’s title. There were many heterosexual relationships from my Top 40 Favorite Screen Couples list (which is sorely in need of an update) that I skipped right over. Examples of these are Joel and Clementine from Eternal Sunshine, Charlotte and Bob from Lost in Translation, The Tramp and the Girl from City Lights and Wall-E and Eve from Wall-E. That’s not to say all of aforementioned do not possess fantastic chemistry; they just don’t have the kind of chemistry that would place them in this particular category. Below you’ll find some of your standard tropes (hey, they make for good conflict which leads to great tension which leads to great chemistry!) including forbidden love, dangerous love, political interference, class differences, and more. Unlike the LGBT list, I decided to go more general in my explanations, rather than restricting the focus to just key scenes.
Perhaps this list is lacking some of the “obvious” choices but then again, it’s very specific to my personal history with cinema. You’re more likely to find some rarer films here then say, what you’d find on an Entertainment Weekly list.
Enjoy and please feel free to chime in with your own personal favorites!
10 Cinematic Heterosexual Chemistries that Scorched the Screen
10. Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands as Lucy and George in A Room with a View
Overall, these two don’t many scenes together, which makes what they do bring to the screen all the more impressive. Sands portrays George’s want with a sexual ferocity almost unexpected. Meanwhile Bonham Carter is like a flower, slowly blooming before the audiences eyes and unable to tame her desire for this man even though she knows what she’s doing isn’t right. They barely know one another yet they’re instantly in love. The screen crackles with energy every time they share it – and all we want is for them to be together for all-time. Beautiful adaptation by Merchant/Ivory, to such a beloved novel. That last scene is sexier than most full-on love scene yet everyone is fully clothed.
9. River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton as Danny and Lorna in Running on Empty
The love story in Running on Empty is crucial to the plot of the film. It’s what ultimately causes the shift in family dynamics. It causes conflict and drama and if it wasn’t believable, if we didn’t care about these two with every fiber of our being then the film itself would have easily failed. Luckily, Phoenix and Plimpton were cast; him an incredible actor, one of the most talented there is or ever will be and her, a decent actresses elevated by 1) the strength of her co-star and 2) the fact that she was falling in love with him off-screen. Their kiss in the film is full of longing. It’s a mix between teenage desire and something deeper – it borders on desperation. The film’s crucial scene, the “confession,” is magnificently played by Phoenix, easily earning him an Oscar nomination but it’s all brought together when she pulls him in close and kisses him.
8. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama in True Romance
Ah, the beauty of the whirlwind romance. Slater and Arquette have a very short period of time to make us care about their characters and want to root for them, and they completely nail the task. Alabama’s confession to Clarence is so heartfelt and, to be frank, rather adorable. In turn, her reaction to his ‘gesture’ is also: adorable. She shouldn’t be adorable! She’s a call girl (don’t you dare call her a hooker) who finds it sweet when her man kills her pimp yet she’s just so damn lovable. Their interactions are a perfect mix of sexy and sweet – and they become our heroes right off the bat. And let’s not forget that phone booth scene.
7. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as Romeo and Juliet in Romeo Juliet
It’s the age old tale of forbidden love but Luhrmann jazzed it up with bright colors, flashy camera movements, and a modern soundtrack. He also cast two stunningly beautiful actors. The result is a film that may not quite work as a whole but is definitely effective when it comes to the romance and sexuality it was attempting to convey. DiCaprio and Danes gaze at one another as though no one else around them has ever existed. Their scene in the pool is brimming with desire. It’s all about their body language, their eyes, and their lips. The pair is sexualized but in such a stylized way that it doesn’t feel cheap or tawdry.
6. James Dean and Julie Harris as Cal and Abra in East of Eden
More forbidden love; always a surefire way to notch up the chemistry factor. This time it’s falling in love with your brother’s girlfriend. Dean and Harris sizzle with sexual tension through the course of the film. They flirt (Harris’ character barely recognizes her own actions as such); they stand close and act coy and lean into one another until they share a kiss on a ferris wheel, so full of heat and feeling. There’s so many fantastic character dynamics within the film but, this one stands out above all others.
5. River Phoenix and Lili Taylor as Eddie and Rose in Dogfight
The scales are always raised when outside obstacles are brought into play. For Phoenix and Taylor, their characters had to face different political views, a nation facing war, and Phoenix’s own friends whom he tries to save face with even though he’s drawn to the plain girl he’s supposed to only be using as a cruel joke. The relationship context to begin with is far from what you’d call romantic but Taylor’s character spends her time reconsidering if he’s worth the trouble and ultimately decides to give him another chance. Their slow dance, both literally and figuratively, is a beautiful sight. No one does palpable want and desire like Phoenix and it’s written over ever ounce of his face. Bob Dylan’s fantastic Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright provides the soundtrack to one of the film’s most memorable scenes and the open ending is both perfect and imperfect, as it should be. Taylor and Phoenix created something magical with this small independent film, which should be viewed by all. As an aside, Phoenix nearly made this list three times. It’s rather unreal how good he was at conveying such palpable emotion, with both women and men.
4. Sean Penn and Elizabeth McGovern as Henry and Caddie in Racing with the Moon
The dynamic is young love – fresh and new but divided by class and their own mentality. Penn is an actor who could have graced this list numerous times (he’s one of the two duplicates); his character is shy in terms of love yet bold in other ways. McGovern is sweet and innocent. When the two come together it’s your unlikely mix of brash vs. prim and proper and they bring the clichés to new heights, going beyond archetypes to unexpected complexity. I used to re-watch their scenes repeatedly; there was something magical about them. This is truly a wonderful film with some fine performances all around. The romance adds an organic feel of youth and innocence against a backdrop of political upheaval.
3. Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons as Anna and Stephen in Damage
When your film centers on an adulterous affair, you’d better have your best actors on board and they better bring their ‘A’ game. Malle definitely got the most from his cast. Binoche and Irons nearly set the screen on fire. The moment leading up to that first forbidden kiss, made more illicit by the knowledge that you’re doing this with the woman who is to be your son’s girlfriend – it’s positively breathtaking.
Much is lent to Malle’s fantastic direction and placement of the camera in these particular scenes allowing them to convey stylistic eroticism. In the first love scene, Malle’s decision to film off to the side, allowing the viewing to take in Binoche’s surrounding stance as well as the line of Irons’ body is a brilliant choice. But it’s his next decision to slowly pan up their bodies, cut rapidly to slowly push in on their faces and then cut yet again to an extreme close-up revealing complete rapture that is truly remarkable. It’s debatable if Binoche has ever been more gorgeous.
Personally, I couldn’t in good conscious create a screen chemistries list without the inclusion of these two – it would be like having peanut butter with no jelly; doable, sure, but it’s not the same. The passion in the love scenes melts through the celluloid, practically burning holes in your retinas.
2. Tim Roth and Julia Ormand as Philip and Rachel in Captives
This relationship thrives on the ‘so wrong but it feels so right’ trope. Ormand’s character knows she shouldn’t get involved with Roth’s; he’s a convict, he’s conveying, he’s dangerous. Roth is everything she should run from yet she can’t help herself. The passion here is animalistic, the content downright dirty. Everything is sensual; from the way Roth looks at her to the way she can’t keep herself away. There must be something special (for me anyway) about Julia Ormand and Tim Roth in general because they each could have made this list multiple times with multiple actresses/actors. And one cannot mention this pairing without referencing the quintessential scene, which can be summed up in two words: bathroom sex.
1. Sean Penn and Robin Wright as Terry and Kathleen in State of Grace
I have a specific memory of watching this film when I was in my early teens and being struck by their scenes together. I remember thinking how natural they were together, how comfortable they seemed around one another. Little did I know they were falling in love on the set of the film. Their love scene was surprisingly effective, filled with intense, raw passion. The totality of their scenes screams romantic tension. The happenings off-screen, when coupled with the onscreen content of reconnection, trust, fear, and betrayal created a sizzling cinematic relationship which would carry over for years in real life. Penn and Wright weaved the characters’ romantic entanglements seamlessly around the rest of the film’s plot and thus, the subplot doesn’t detract from the main storyline like many tend to do in crime dramas such as this. The relationship is an intricate addition to a refreshing, yet terribly underrated film.
Perhaps this list is lacking some of the “obvious” choices but then again, it’s very specific to my personal history with cinema. You’re more likely to find some rarer films here then say, what you’d find on an Entertainment Weekly list.
Enjoy and please feel free to chime in with your own personal favorites!
10 Cinematic Heterosexual Chemistries that Scorched the Screen
10. Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands as Lucy and George in A Room with a View
Overall, these two don’t many scenes together, which makes what they do bring to the screen all the more impressive. Sands portrays George’s want with a sexual ferocity almost unexpected. Meanwhile Bonham Carter is like a flower, slowly blooming before the audiences eyes and unable to tame her desire for this man even though she knows what she’s doing isn’t right. They barely know one another yet they’re instantly in love. The screen crackles with energy every time they share it – and all we want is for them to be together for all-time. Beautiful adaptation by Merchant/Ivory, to such a beloved novel. That last scene is sexier than most full-on love scene yet everyone is fully clothed.
9. River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton as Danny and Lorna in Running on Empty
The love story in Running on Empty is crucial to the plot of the film. It’s what ultimately causes the shift in family dynamics. It causes conflict and drama and if it wasn’t believable, if we didn’t care about these two with every fiber of our being then the film itself would have easily failed. Luckily, Phoenix and Plimpton were cast; him an incredible actor, one of the most talented there is or ever will be and her, a decent actresses elevated by 1) the strength of her co-star and 2) the fact that she was falling in love with him off-screen. Their kiss in the film is full of longing. It’s a mix between teenage desire and something deeper – it borders on desperation. The film’s crucial scene, the “confession,” is magnificently played by Phoenix, easily earning him an Oscar nomination but it’s all brought together when she pulls him in close and kisses him.
8. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as Clarence and Alabama in True Romance
Ah, the beauty of the whirlwind romance. Slater and Arquette have a very short period of time to make us care about their characters and want to root for them, and they completely nail the task. Alabama’s confession to Clarence is so heartfelt and, to be frank, rather adorable. In turn, her reaction to his ‘gesture’ is also: adorable. She shouldn’t be adorable! She’s a call girl (don’t you dare call her a hooker) who finds it sweet when her man kills her pimp yet she’s just so damn lovable. Their interactions are a perfect mix of sexy and sweet – and they become our heroes right off the bat. And let’s not forget that phone booth scene.
7. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as Romeo and Juliet in Romeo Juliet
It’s the age old tale of forbidden love but Luhrmann jazzed it up with bright colors, flashy camera movements, and a modern soundtrack. He also cast two stunningly beautiful actors. The result is a film that may not quite work as a whole but is definitely effective when it comes to the romance and sexuality it was attempting to convey. DiCaprio and Danes gaze at one another as though no one else around them has ever existed. Their scene in the pool is brimming with desire. It’s all about their body language, their eyes, and their lips. The pair is sexualized but in such a stylized way that it doesn’t feel cheap or tawdry.
6. James Dean and Julie Harris as Cal and Abra in East of Eden
More forbidden love; always a surefire way to notch up the chemistry factor. This time it’s falling in love with your brother’s girlfriend. Dean and Harris sizzle with sexual tension through the course of the film. They flirt (Harris’ character barely recognizes her own actions as such); they stand close and act coy and lean into one another until they share a kiss on a ferris wheel, so full of heat and feeling. There’s so many fantastic character dynamics within the film but, this one stands out above all others.
5. River Phoenix and Lili Taylor as Eddie and Rose in Dogfight
The scales are always raised when outside obstacles are brought into play. For Phoenix and Taylor, their characters had to face different political views, a nation facing war, and Phoenix’s own friends whom he tries to save face with even though he’s drawn to the plain girl he’s supposed to only be using as a cruel joke. The relationship context to begin with is far from what you’d call romantic but Taylor’s character spends her time reconsidering if he’s worth the trouble and ultimately decides to give him another chance. Their slow dance, both literally and figuratively, is a beautiful sight. No one does palpable want and desire like Phoenix and it’s written over ever ounce of his face. Bob Dylan’s fantastic Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright provides the soundtrack to one of the film’s most memorable scenes and the open ending is both perfect and imperfect, as it should be. Taylor and Phoenix created something magical with this small independent film, which should be viewed by all. As an aside, Phoenix nearly made this list three times. It’s rather unreal how good he was at conveying such palpable emotion, with both women and men.
4. Sean Penn and Elizabeth McGovern as Henry and Caddie in Racing with the Moon
The dynamic is young love – fresh and new but divided by class and their own mentality. Penn is an actor who could have graced this list numerous times (he’s one of the two duplicates); his character is shy in terms of love yet bold in other ways. McGovern is sweet and innocent. When the two come together it’s your unlikely mix of brash vs. prim and proper and they bring the clichés to new heights, going beyond archetypes to unexpected complexity. I used to re-watch their scenes repeatedly; there was something magical about them. This is truly a wonderful film with some fine performances all around. The romance adds an organic feel of youth and innocence against a backdrop of political upheaval.
3. Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons as Anna and Stephen in Damage
When your film centers on an adulterous affair, you’d better have your best actors on board and they better bring their ‘A’ game. Malle definitely got the most from his cast. Binoche and Irons nearly set the screen on fire. The moment leading up to that first forbidden kiss, made more illicit by the knowledge that you’re doing this with the woman who is to be your son’s girlfriend – it’s positively breathtaking.
Much is lent to Malle’s fantastic direction and placement of the camera in these particular scenes allowing them to convey stylistic eroticism. In the first love scene, Malle’s decision to film off to the side, allowing the viewing to take in Binoche’s surrounding stance as well as the line of Irons’ body is a brilliant choice. But it’s his next decision to slowly pan up their bodies, cut rapidly to slowly push in on their faces and then cut yet again to an extreme close-up revealing complete rapture that is truly remarkable. It’s debatable if Binoche has ever been more gorgeous.
Personally, I couldn’t in good conscious create a screen chemistries list without the inclusion of these two – it would be like having peanut butter with no jelly; doable, sure, but it’s not the same. The passion in the love scenes melts through the celluloid, practically burning holes in your retinas.
2. Tim Roth and Julia Ormand as Philip and Rachel in Captives
This relationship thrives on the ‘so wrong but it feels so right’ trope. Ormand’s character knows she shouldn’t get involved with Roth’s; he’s a convict, he’s conveying, he’s dangerous. Roth is everything she should run from yet she can’t help herself. The passion here is animalistic, the content downright dirty. Everything is sensual; from the way Roth looks at her to the way she can’t keep herself away. There must be something special (for me anyway) about Julia Ormand and Tim Roth in general because they each could have made this list multiple times with multiple actresses/actors. And one cannot mention this pairing without referencing the quintessential scene, which can be summed up in two words: bathroom sex.
1. Sean Penn and Robin Wright as Terry and Kathleen in State of Grace
I have a specific memory of watching this film when I was in my early teens and being struck by their scenes together. I remember thinking how natural they were together, how comfortable they seemed around one another. Little did I know they were falling in love on the set of the film. Their love scene was surprisingly effective, filled with intense, raw passion. The totality of their scenes screams romantic tension. The happenings off-screen, when coupled with the onscreen content of reconnection, trust, fear, and betrayal created a sizzling cinematic relationship which would carry over for years in real life. Penn and Wright weaved the characters’ romantic entanglements seamlessly around the rest of the film’s plot and thus, the subplot doesn’t detract from the main storyline like many tend to do in crime dramas such as this. The relationship is an intricate addition to a refreshing, yet terribly underrated film.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Also Jean-Hughes Anglade and Beatrice Dalle in Betty Blue, Viggo Mortensen and Mario Bello in A History of Violence to name a couple more.
Comment by Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
When you do make sure you watch the director's three-hour cut, not the two-hour cut that was first released.
Comment by Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile