I was watching Little Dorrit the other day (the 1987 version) and it struck me how creepy the relationship between the two characters, Arthur Clennam and Amy Dorrit is. She seems to have a bad case of Electra Complex, switching her love almost effortlessly from her father when he dies to the 40-ish Arthur, while he, like Humbert Humbert, apparently hasn’t got over his affection for his childish sweetheart and so transfers it to the equally young Amy.
So obviously they are made for each other, but it’s still a little creepy.
Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron in Daddy Longlegs. I know it’s supposed to be a lighthearted musical romantic comedy, but something about the way 56 year old Astaire decides to take over the education of the young French orphan played by Caron, and then shows up at her school dance and starts hitting on her, never letting her know who he is until the very end…it’s just skeevy. Like he’s grooming her to be his arm candy.
The housekeeper and the groom (horseman, I think) from A Turn of the Screw were a bit off-kilter. Henry James’s book implied that there was something unholy about them, and that they were somehow perverting the children of the household.
William Holden and Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday just didn’t have the right kind of chemistry to come off as a couple. In fact, they felt a little creepy together. He seemed way too intelligent to fall for such an irritating bimbo.
Sean Young and Harrison Ford’s relationship in Blade Runner creeped me out a bit, too. Not only did they look like they hated each other though the whole movie, that whole love scene in Deckard’s apartment struck me as total attempted rape.