Love Sick (film)

2006 film

Răzvan Rădulescu
Cecilia Stefanescu

Produced byTudor GiurgiuStarring

Maria Popistașu
Ioana Barbu
Tudor Chirila

CinematographyAlexandru SterianEdited byAlexandru RaduMusic byVlaicu GolceaDistributed byTransilvania Film

Release dates

13 February 2006 (2006-02-13) (Germany)
17 March 2006 (2006-03-17) (Romania)
8 June 2006 (2006-06-08) (US)
1 April 2007 (2007-04-01) (UK)

Running time

86 mins.Countries

Romania
France

LanguageRomanianBudget€350,000 (estimated)

Love Sick (Romanian: Legături bolnăvicioase, "Sickly relationships") is a 2006 Romanian drama film directed by Tudor Giurgiu. It is a lesbian-themed love story that has been compared to My Summer of Love.^[1]

Plot

Alex and Cristina (Kiki) are university 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 incestuous liaison between the two siblings.^[2]

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.^{[original research?]}

Cast

Maria Popistașu as Kiki
Ioana Barbu as Alex
Tudor Chirila as Sandu
Catalina Murgea as Mrs. Benes
Mircea Diaconu as Mr. Dragnea
Virginia Mirea as Mrs. Dragnea
Tora Vasilescu as Mrs. Parvulescu
Valentin Popescu as Mr. Parvulescu
Mihai Dinvale as Prof. Mihailescu
Carmen Tănase as Waitress
Puya as Taxi driver
Mihaela Rădulescu as Mrs. Negulescu
Robert Paschall Jr. as Bo

Background

The film was adapted from a novel by Cecilia Stefanescu.^[3]

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.^[4]^[5]
Actress Maria Popistasu won Jury Special Award for Performance at the 'Anonimul' International Film Festival in Romania.^[6]
Actress Ioana Barbu won Best Actress at the Pécs International Film Festival.^[6]

Distribution

It premiered at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival as part of the Teddy Awards.^[7] It went on to appear at a number of international film festivals including the Seattle International Film Festival^[8] and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

References

^ Muss, Lucy (2006-02-20). "Age of innocence". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
^ "Love Sick by Tudor Giurgiu". Libra Film. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
^ Têtu, July–August 2007 issue, page 26
^ Image+Nation Festival Audience Choice Awards for 2006 Archived 2007-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ indieWire
^ ^a ^b Romanian Film Festival Archived 2007-09-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Diary 2006". Teddy Award. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
^ "Films / Love Sick". Seattle International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 2007-05-18. Retrieved 2007-07-27.