Narrative technique · used in 18 films
Pairing characters from opposite social worlds who find each other strange. Their friction produces the comedy, and what they learn from each other produces the emotion.
Examples
Frank Capra · 1934
Ellie is a rich heiress and Peter is a broke reporter, and each finds the other strange. Her father's reward makes his interest in her suspect. The spark between them grows from that clash of worlds.
Where to see it: Bus meeting: After a thief steals her money, Peter helps Ellie, knowing her father has offered a reward for her return.
John Huston · 1951
Rose Sayer is a strict, upright Methodist and Charlie Allnutt is a boozy, practical man. They come from worlds that can't be reconciled. Huston traps them together on a small boat, which forces each of them to change in ways they never would in ordinary life. The comedy of them clashing becomes the film's love story.
Where to see it: Rose pouring Charlie's gin into the river while he sleeps. Their clash of beliefs is played as slapstick. The fight between strict morals and appetite plays as an argument about what the other person is worth.
Akira Kurosawa · 1954
Kikuchiyo was born a peasant and lies about being a samurai. He can't be a real samurai, and he can't just be a farmer either. Standing between the 2 classes lets him give the film's most devastating speech. It's about what peasants think of samurai and what they do to survive, and no true samurai could deliver it.
Where to see it: Kikuchiyo's speech about farmers. He says the truth the samurai can't say. He belongs to both worlds and to neither.
Billy Wilder · 1954
A cold tycoon and a chauffeur's daughter come from opposite sides of the Larrabee estate. Their friction is funny, and what they learn from each other becomes the heart of the film.
Where to see it: Tennis court: Linus takes David's place with Sabrina at the indoor tennis court. They fall in love, though neither will admit it.
Billy Wilder · 1960
The film sets up Baxter and Sheldrake as opposite ends of the class ladder. Baxter is the nobody clerk who wants to be a somebody, and Sheldrake is the executive who has everything Baxter wants. Fran lives in both worlds and in neither. As a matter of fact, the way she moves between them is how the film resolves both its romance and its moral question.
Where to see it: Baxter's confrontation with Sheldrake at the end. The clerk returns the key and chooses dignity over promotion, and he rejects the class ladder.
John Schlesinger · 1969
Joe Buck is a naive, romantic cowboy and Ratso is a cynical city survivor. They fail in opposite ways. One is too innocent for the city and the other is too damaged to leave it. That is, they depend on each other because neither can cope alone. Being a good match has nothing to do with it.
Where to see it: Joe and Ratso's first shared night in the condemned building. The 2 of them are cold and broke. The cowboy and the rat discover they need each other because no one else will have them.
Sergio Leone · 1971
Juan is a peasant bandit who wants money and has no use for politics. John is an explosives expert who has fled Ireland. They trick each other and bicker, and slowly they come to depend on one another.
Where to see it: The bank plan: Juan frames John for a killing to make him help rob the Mesa Verde bank. John escapes and joins the revolutionaries.
John Huston · 1982
A billionaire who wants a better public image gets matched with an orphan who has nothing. At first he treats her as a chore, and she treats him as another adult who will let her down. They slowly figure out that each has what the other needs.
Where to see it: The Radio City Music Hall visit: after a day out with Annie, Warbucks decides to adopt her.
Robert Zemeckis · 1984
Joan is a careful, bookish writer, and Jack is a rough adventurer who smuggles birds. They see each other as strange and annoying. Their friction produces the jokes, and their growing closeness produces the romance.
Where to see it: The jungle trek: Joan and Jack cross the jungle together, bickering as they go.
Woody Allen · 1994
David Shayne is a high-minded playwright from Pittsburgh. Cheech is a gangster's henchman who barely learned to read. They find each other baffling. The friction produces most of the jokes, and then the film's best idea.
Where to see it: The rehearsals. Cheech sits through them and starts rewriting David's script, and his notes are excellent.
Woody Allen · 1995
Lenny is a Manhattan sportswriter and Linda is a prostitute. They come from different worlds and find each other odd. By the end, you can read each as having changed the other.
Where to see it: Lenny meets Linda. He urges her toward a more wholesome life, and she angrily gives his money back.
Wes Anderson · 1998
Max is a scholarship kid and Herman Blume is a wealthy industrialist, yet they become friends. Each finds the other strange and a little thrilling. When both fall for Rosemary, the friendship turns into a feud that feels petty and sad at once.
Where to see it: The hospital meeting: Max and Blume meet at the hospital where headmaster Guggenheim is recovering from a stroke, after their feud has cooled.
Alfonso Cuarón · 2001
Tenoch is the son of a wealthy politician and Julio comes from a working-class family. Their jokes about each other's backgrounds start out playful. When jealousy kicks in, the class gap turns into real cruelty.
Where to see it: The wedding reception. The boys meet Luisa at the lavish wedding of Tenoch's sister, a world Julio only gets into as his friend.
Rajkumar Hirani · 2009
The 3 friends each deal with the college's pressure differently. Farhan was forced into engineering by his father. Raju's family is poor, and the weight that puts on his ambitions cripples him. Rancho has a secret about his class background, and it is the film's main mystery. Their friendship is the film's answer to that pressure.
Where to see it: The 3 friends' first night in their dormitory. Each one explains why he is here in a different way. From that, you learn their class backgrounds and family pressures immediately.
Woody Allen · 2009
Boris is a cynical, educated former Columbia professor and Melody is a sweet 21-year-old who has never lived in a city. They find each other strange, and the friction makes the early comedy. He later falls in love with her and marries her.
Where to see it: The night on Boris's doorstep. Melody turns up at his door, and he reluctantly lets her stay.
Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano · 2011
Philippe and Driss come from opposite ends of French society. One comes from inherited wealth and classical culture, the other from the housing projects and hip-hop. The comedy comes from how little each understands the other's world. The emotion comes from each seeing the other as fully human.
Where to see it: Driss's first day. He could not care less about Philippe's world, and that gives you both the comedy and the start of the friendship.
Alexander Payne · 2017
Paul is a comfortable middle-class man, and Ngoc Lan Tran is a Vietnamese activist who was shrunk against her will and now lives in the slums. They find each other strange, and what they learn from each other becomes the real story.
Where to see it: Slum visit: Paul sees the poverty outside Leisureland and starts helping Ngoc Lan hand out food.
Alexander Payne · 2023
Hunham is the rigidly principled classicist and Angus is the defiant student, and they are mirror images. Both are isolated because they refuse to act the way the Barton Academy world expects. Their hostility hides the same loneliness.
Where to see it: Hunham and Angus's first proper conversation. As they spar, you start to see 2 people who understand each other's contempt for the institution they're both trapped in.
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