Long Relationships

A recent survey of moviegoers found that the pairing of Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in George Lucas’s recent Star Wars trilogy was the ‘least convincing’ on-screen partnership. It was hardly a surprising result for those of us who felt that Christensen displayed all the acting talent of a wooden plank; squandering a golden opportunity to establish himself as a truly great actor.

Interestingly the most common complaint was that the relationship between Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker and Portman’s Padame Amidala lacked ‘lust’. Given that the pair were portrayed in their youth and teenage years this perhaps is revealing of an attitude that lust should be the predominate force in youthful relationships. However, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom also suffered in the poll for being “too stiff upper lip” in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Obviously we want excitement when we go the cinema. Sex sells and crackling sexual tension put’s bums on theatre seats. However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing; Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidmen made ninth place for their roles in Stanley Kubrick’s highly sexually charged Eyes Wide Shut.

Simplicity is always good too, although too much simplicity is usually rejected as being ‘fake’ or cutesy. Although the movie was critically acclaimed at the time and did much to establish Hugh Grant as an acting force; his tryst with Andy McDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral came in a surprisingly high sixth. Despite this there is still room for old fashioned star-crossed romance as evidenced by the conviction in Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s Titanic performances.

Of course movies are escapism and what we are really looking for when we sit down popcorn in hand is what is lacking in our own relationships or else how we wished things were. Sadly, though they are based somewhat on how things are things rarely run as smoothly as they do in the movies (let’s be honest, we all know they will defiantly hook-up in the end). Real life is much more complex, something reflected by the fact that Cruise and Kidmen and fellow ‘duds’ Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck (Gigli) were together at the time of their screen flop.

However, that makes it even more special when eventually do end happily ever after.