''Love Sick'' ( ro, Legături bolnăvicioase, "Sickly relationships") is a 2006

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Tudor Giurgiu Tudor Giurgiu (born 1972 in Cluj-Napoca, Romania) is a Romanian film director. He was President of Romanian National Television, TVR between 2005 and 2007. Tudor Giurgiu is also a director of music videos and has made documentaries. Giurgiu owns ...

. It is a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

-themed love story that has been compared to ''

My Summer of Love ''My Summer of Love'' is a 2004 British drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski and co-written by Pawlikowski and Michael Wynne. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Helen Cross, the film explores the romantic relationship between two ...

''.

Plot

Alex and Cristina (Kiki) are

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

students who end up living in the same building. Their friendship develops quickly, overcoming several phases, from fellowship to care and tenderness. While the two are very different, the two girls get along fine, except for the moments when a third character shows up — Sandu. Kiki's brother is permanently tormented by an unnatural jealousy which implies an

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

uous liaison between the two siblings. Unlike other recent Romanian films, it is not a reflection on Romania's communist or post-communist history; the country is merely a background for the different relationships.

Cast

Maria Popistașu Maria Popistașu (born 21 January 1980 in Bucharest) is a Romanian actress. Awards *2005 - Gemini Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries - ''Sex Traffic''"CTV wins Gemini for movie about Montreal detective". ''Wat ...

as Kiki * Ioana Barbu as Alex * Tudor Chirila as Sandu * Catalina Murgea as Mrs. Benes *

Mircea Diaconu Mircea Diaconu (; born 24 December 1949) is a Romanian actor, writer, and politician. First appearing on stage in 1970, and on screen two years later, Diaconu pursued a lengthy career in both formats, working with a series of prominent directors ...

as Mr. Dragnea *

Virginia Mirea Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are s ...

as Mrs. Dragnea *

Tora Vasilescu Tora Vasilescu (22 March 1951) is a Romanian actress. She was born in Tulcea and went to local School no. 5, and then went on to High School no. 2. She showed talent for acting since she was young and later studied at the Theater Institute in B ...

as Mrs. Parvulescu *

Valentin Popescu Valentin is a male given name meaning "strong, healthy, power, rule, terco". It comes from the Latin name ''Valentinus'', as in Saint Valentin. Commonly found in Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Scandinavia, Latin America ...

as Mr. Parvulescu * Mihai Dinvale as Prof. Mihailescu *

Carmen Tănase Carmen Tanase (born January 18, 1961) is a Romanian actress. After graduating The Drama and Film Institute from Bucharest, in 1984, she joined the company of "Vasile Alecsandri" National Theatre in Iaşi (between 1984 and 1990) and then moved ba ...

as Waitress *

Puya Puya may refer to: * ''Puya'' (plant), in the family Bromeliaceae * Puya (river), in Russia * Puya, a variety of Guajillo chili * ''Puya'' (Meitei texts), traditional or mythological texts of the Meetei people * ''Culoepuya'' or ''Culo'e Puya'', V ...

as Taxi driver *

Mihaela Rădulescu Mihaela Rădulescu (born 3 August 1969) is a Romanian businesswoman, television host and producer, social activist, bestselling author, and columnist. She is also a goodwill ambassador for United Way Worldwide, Hospice House of Hope, and Save t ...

as Mrs. Negulescu * Robert Paschall Jr. as Bo

Background

The film was adapted from a novel by Cecilia Stefanescu.

Awards

*Love Sick shared the grand jury prize in November 2006 at the 19th edition of the Image+Nation Festival, Montreal, Canada's LGBT Film Festival. *Actress Maria Popistasu won Jury Special Award for Performance at the 'Anonimul' International Film Festival in Romania.Romanian Film Festival
*Actress Ioana Barbu won Best Actress at the Pécs International Film Festival.

Distribution

It premiered at the 2006

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

as part of the

Teddy Awards The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale). In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay a ...

. It went on to appear at a number of international film festivals including the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

and the

London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and ...

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Love Sick (Film) 2006 drama films 2006 LGBT-related films 2006 films Films based on Romanian novels French drama films French LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films Romanian drama films 2000s Romanian-language films Romanian LGBT-related films Films about incest 2000s French films