From ‘Her’ to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,’ here are 10 unconventional movie romances
Get Starting Point
Bud Cort as Harold and Ruth Gordon as Maude in a scene from director Hal Ashby’s 1971 comedy, “Harold and Maude.”
“Harold and Maude” (1971)
Director Hal Ashby’s sophomore feature is perhaps the granddaddy of oddball romantic combinations. Before he wrote “Foul Play,” “Silver Streak,” and “9 to 5,” Colin Higgins wrote this black comedy about a May-December relationship between the titular characters. Harold (the late Bud Cort) is a young man obsessed with death. Maude (Ruth Gordon) is a 79-year old woman who boosts cars and shares Harold’s hobby of attending funerals. Their friendship blossoms into a romance, much to the chagrin of Harold’s mother. This is a morbid, very sick little movie that’s an acquired taste. But Gordon and Cort are always convincing, no matter how odd things get. (Available on Kanopy, hoopla)
How about an even more morbid movie for this list? But hear me out. David Cronenberg’s extremely gory remake of the 1958 classic is also devastatingly romantic. The bodily deterioration of unlucky Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) after he unexpectedly merges with a fly has been read as an AIDS or cancer allegory. However you interpret that part, there’s only one way to describe the fierce determination of his girlfriend, Ronnie (Geena Davis). She’s a literal “ride or die,” a partner who sticks with her man against all odds. The last scene of this movie is as heartbreaking and unforgettable as it is gory. (Available on Prime Video, Apple TV)
While we’re in horror movie director territory, I submit Jeff Bridges’s Oscar-nominated performance in John Carpenter’s sci-fi romance. The director of “The Thing” calls this film his “It Happened One Night,” and the relationship between Bridges’s alien and recently widowed Karen Allen hits some of the same beats as that road trip screwball comedy masterpiece. Bridges takes the guise of Allen’s late husband, and once she gets over the initial shock, she joins forces to help him get back to his planet. Unlike most of Carpenter’s impressive oeuvre, nothing gets eviscerated in this movie, except maybe your cynicism. (Available on Prime Video, Apple TV)
Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
Hey, girl! Ryan Gosling stars in this very odd dramedy as Lars, a withdrawn man whose traumatic past keeps him from comfortably interacting with other people. His older brother, Gus, whom he lives with, becomes worried when Lars introduces him to Bianca, his new girlfriend. Bianca is a sex doll, and Lars’s emotional attachment concerns everyone around him. But don’t worry! This is rated PG-13, so it’s not the nasty movie you think it is. Gosling and a cast that includes Emily Mortimer and Patricia Clarkson do a great job selling you on this story, delusions and all. It’s probably the sweetest movie on this list. (Available on Kanopy, Prime Video)
Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore in the romantic drama “Her,” directed by Spike Jonze.Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
This is the R-rated version of the story I just described. In the near future, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an AI-based operating system voiced by Scarlett Johannson. Siri — I mean ScarJo — becomes everything to Theodore, and yes, sex is involved. Amy Adams costars in Spike Jonze’s Oscar-winning fantasy. Full disclosure: I hated this movie. I gave it one star and put it on my 2013 10 worst list. But I must apologize for writing that its concept “wasn’t believable at all.” Like “Network,” “Her” plays more like a documentary nowadays than a satire. (Available on Prime Video, Apple TV)
“Electric Dreams” (1984)
Love between a human and a computer is also the topic of director Steve Barron’s feature film debut. This time, it’s a love triangle between architect Miles (Lenny Von Dohlen), Madeline (Virginia Madsen), a cellist he’s enamored with, and Miles’s suddenly sentient personal computer, Edgar (voiced by Harold himself, Bud Cort). As a 1980s score by Giorgio Moroder competes with classical music on the soundtrack, Edgar and Miles battle in a “Cyrano”-style romantic misunderstanding gone awry. I wouldn’t dare tell you who wins Madeline’s heart. (Available on hoopla, Prime Video)
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine in the Spotless Mind.”tk
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004)
Did you ever want to erase painful memories of a former lover? The Lacuna company will help you! As with all brain procedures, there’s a high chance that something will go wrong. Nobody tells Jim Carrey’s sad character Joel this before he undergoes the erasure of his former girlfriend Clementine (a never better Kate Winslet). Charlie Kaufman’s script weaves his usual web of perfectly calibrated chaos, and director Michel Gondry handles every curve with bittersweet aplomb. Carrey is spectacular here, especially after he realizes mid-procedure that he doesn’t want to let go of his memories just yet. (Available on Prime Video)
OK, I’m bending the rules a bit here. This police thriller’s romantic detour is between cop John Book (Oscar nominee Harrison Ford) and Rachel (Kelly McGillis), the Amish woman whose son witnessed the brutal murder that drives the film’s plot. Nothing too unconventional there, I admit. But director Peter Weir and cinematographer John Seale stage one of the most romantic scenes I’ve ever, um, witnessed. Using Sam Cooke’s version of “(What a) Wonderful World” and a slow dance between Book and Rachel, Weir and his actors create a hauntingly beautiful paean to romantic longing. I cry just thinking about it. (Available on Kanopy, Prime Video)
Lynn Redgrave (as Poinsettia) and James Earl Jones (as Obediah Fish) in “The Annihilation of Fish.”Milestone Film
“The Annihilation of Fish” (1999)
“Killer of Sheep” director Charles Burnett’s forgotten gem stars James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave. She’s Poinsettia, a woman who has just broken up with “La bohème” opera composer Giacomo Puccini (never mind that he’s been dead for 75 years). He’s Fish, a Jamaican immigrant who is occasionally attacked by an invisible demon he must wrestle to defeat. These two become neighbors and lovers, then the real fun begins. A very strange, quirky delight with two actors who understood the assignment. (Available on Kanopy, hoopla)
The year before he was Ferris Bueller, Matthew Broderick starred as a thief nicknamed “the Mouse” in this medieval romantic fantasy. He becomes involved in a cursed relationship between a husband and wife played by Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. The curse, imposed upon the couple by an evil bishop, turns Hauer into a wolf by night and Pfeiffer into the titular bird by day. This keeps them separated by species, as one is human when the other is an animal. It’s up to Ferris, I mean, Mouse, to help them break the curse so they can be reunited in human form. It’s all rather silly, but as a teenager, I watched it 8 million times on HBO and thought it was hopelessly romantic. (Available on hoopla, Apple TV)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.
