Meeting Mr. or Ms. Wrong

The creators of our new web series on film couples for whom two wrongs make a right.

His

1. “John & Mary” (1969)

Directed by Peter Yates

This film was a real surprise find for me a few years ago, and a huge inspiration for “Like So Many Things…” It’s about two strangers (Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow) and the morning after their one-night stand. Completely unique (especially for the time) in encapsulating the awkward dance between a man and woman trying to really know each other and wondering if there’s anything there. The acting is amazing and you’re locked in John’s apartment the entire time, watching the two, wondering where it’s going to go. It reminds me of the Rita Hayworth quote, “They go to bed with Rita Hayworth, but they wake up with me.”

2. “He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not” (2002)

Directed by Laetitia Colombani

If you haven’t seen this film, you’ve got to! Simple, yet deceptive. When you see Audrey Tautou, you think of the sweetness of Amélie as she plays a wide-eyed student artist who falls for a handsome older cardiologist (Samuel Le Bihan). Then the story goes left as Colombani creates a thriller about perception. In most stalker films, you always see it from the side of the victim, but never sympathetically from the side of the predator. And what Colombani does so well is not only make you empathize with the antagonist, but see the world through her eyes and experience her heartbreak, rejection and desire for revenge.

3. “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951)

Directed by Elia Kazan

Okay, besides starring my all-time favorite actor Marlon Brando in a performance that no actor since has touched, this film contains so much passion and energy and want and pain and regret and savagery. You are constantly aware of the heat — in New Orleans, and between the characters involved. They’re so flawed and complex — and thus real. Is Stanley right for Stella? Is Blanche right for Mitch? Is Stanley right for Blanche? I’ve watched this film dozens of times and it still remains honest and spellbinding.

4. “Faces” (1968)

Directed by John Cassavetes

Complex and wincingly uncomfortable to watch at times. Starring Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, John Marley and many others, it makes you really look forward to being middle-aged and unhappily married. Couples individually search for comfort and excitement in the arms and attentions of younger strangers — each of them trying to rekindle their youth and passion. There’s a heartbreaking scene between Cassel’s character Chet and a mature overweight woman at a house party where the women has had one too many drinks. The awkward image of her fawning over him will stay with you for months, if not years.

5. “Last Tango in Paris” (1972)

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

Yeah, okay, I know… another Brando film. But damn, talk about meeting Mr. Wrong. A young actress (Maria Schneider) meets Brando’s character, whose wife has committed suicide. The film is a study in mourning (and my second favorite after Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Blue”) and how sadistic a person can be in dealing with loss. No names. They meet, they screw, they push themselves sexually and emotionally. How far will she let him go? How much of himself will he share? Great film.

[Additional photos: "Romeo and Juliet," Paramount, 1968; "Far From Heaven," Focus Features, 2002; "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," Focus Features, 2004; "Something Wild," Orion Pictures, 1986; "John and Mary," 20th Century Fox, 1969; "He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not," Samuel Goldwyn Films, 2002; "A Streetcar Named Desire," Warner Bros., 1951; "Faces," Castle Hill Productions, 1968; "Last Tango in Paris," United Artists, 1972]

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