One of my personal favorites has always been Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall. Their pairing in To Have and Have Not in particular is just pure fire.
jean paul belmondo and anna karina
Diane Keaton / Woody Allen by far…
but does it really count because they really were in love? not exactly complete acting…
sibel kekilli and birol unel in head on
zooey deschanel and paul schneider in all the real girls
leonardo dicaprio and kate winslet
tony leung and faye wong/maggie cheung
i was gonna say Jean Paul Belmondo & Jean Seberg in Breathless. they came across like two people that have known and loved each other, and would like to stay locked in that bedroom alone forever just so they could look at one another and crack jokes at each other’s expense.
i’m sure EVENTUALLY she’d pick up a French accent…can’t stand the way she says “Paris” in that film…
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in Charade.
two males but the chemistry between Tony Leung & Leslie Cheung in Happy Together is quite memorable.
Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Last Tango in Paris
Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson
you got that right Drew, I have no doubts in my mind in choosing those two performances from Scenes from a Marriage something. I feel that is one very tough one to emulate…
I would also nominate Tony Leung-Faye Wong from Chungking Express, something about it is magical, may be the innocence of both the characters.
fdp
Tony Leung is rightly getting a few mentions here, I’m going to go for:
Tony & Maggie in In the Mood For Love
Woody & Diane in Annie Hall
Also Clive and Julia in Closer, there’s just something there even when they are arguing. Sadly it didn’t carry over to Duplicity.
I was emotionally connected by the chemistry of Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort, and Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.
Herbert Marshall and Kay Francis in “Trouble in Paradise”
Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda in “The Lady Eve.”
Jean-Pierre Kalfon and Bulle Ogier in “L’Amour Fou”
Gerard Depardieu and Marguerite Duras in “Le Camion”
Frankenstein’s monster and his bride involved quite a bit of chemistry.
Cary Grant/Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest. (seems Cary Grant had strong chemistry with several, the kiss with Ingrid Bergman in Notorious comes to mind too, Hitchcock obviously good at helping these things along)
Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep, and yes To Have and Have Not
Gary Cooper and Marlene Dietrich in MOROCCO and DESIRE.
Christopher Langford
Sophia Loren / Marcello Mastroianni ?
Katherine Hepburn / Spencer Tracy ?
Diane Keaton / Woody Allen ?