Synopsis
Foreword: In love, anything goes. Anything goes, but not in public. Sandu and Kiki are siblings, Kiki and Alex are friends. But that’s not all.
Director: Tudor Giurgiu
Scriptwriters: Cecilia Ștefănescu, Răzvan Rădulescu
Cast: Maria Popistașu, Ioana Barbu, Tudor Chirilă, Cătălina Murgea, Mircea Diaconu, Virginia Mirea, Tora Vasilescu, Valentin Popescu, Mihai Dinvale, Carmen Tănase, Dragoș Gărdescu (Puya), Mihaela Rădulescu
Produced by: Oana Giurgiu, Tudor Giurgiu, Dragoș Vîlcu
Cinematography by: Alexandru Sterian
Film editing by: Alexandru Radu
Sound: Gelu Costache, Dana Bunescu
Music: Vlaicu Golcea
Year: 2006
Category: feature film
Genre: drama
Duration: 83 minutes
Subtitles: English
Territories: The film is available only in Romania and Moldavian Republic
27,440 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
You fall in love. There are no rules. To the rest of the world, it may seem unhealthy. It’s something that can hurt you, cause you pain… more than anything else. Alex and Kiki seem like two very good friends. In fact, they are experiencing a different kind of love. To their families, Kiki and Sandu are two siblings who argue from time to time. In reality, they are in love… with each other.
AWARDS:
- 2007 – Pécs International Film Festival, Hungary – Best Actress for her debut role (Ioana Barbu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Cătălina Murgea) 2007 – Gopo Awards – Audience Award (Tudor Giurgiu, Oana Giurgiu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Biggest Local Box Office Success
- 2007 – UCIN – Opera Prima (ex-aequo)
- 2006 – Montreal International LGBT Film Festival, Canada – Grand Jury Prize
FESTIVALS:
- 2006 – Berlin Film Festival, Panorama section – Official Selection 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Feature Film (Tudor Giurgiu, Oana Giurgiu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Editing (Andu Radu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Screenplay (Cecilia Ștefănescu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ioana Barbu, Maria Popistașu)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Cinematography (Alexandru Sterian)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Music (Vlaicu Golcea)
- 2007 – Gopo Awards – Nomination for Best Production Design (Adriana Grand)
CRITICAL REVIEWS:
“A normal film about ‘different’ kinds of love, which are still love nonetheless. To be watched without prejudice.” – Alex Leo Șerban, agenda.liternet.ro
“A light film, but not frivolous, a sort of ‘Jules and Jim’ (the setting, repeated, with the running on the bridge, doesn’t let you forget) but ‘with a twist’, if you will—that is, two girls and a boy, where the girls are passionately in love with each other, and the boy is in love with only one of them, who happens to be her sister…” – Andrei Crețulescu, agenda.liternet.ro
“The film is neat, clean, beautifully shot, the lighting is good, the music is beautiful (Chris Martin & Faultline—with copyright!!); the characters wear trendy clothes, jewelry from Meli Melo; the colors of the pillows in the house match the clothes thrown on the armchair; life in the countryside is peaceful and colorful; the actors are beautiful and likeable; the film also features Puya and Mihaela Rădulescu; the dialogue is beautiful, sometimes too literary. The label that best fits the film is ‘trendy’. Unfortunately, the two love stories lack depth, and the drama only comes through twice, in two powerful sequences.” – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro
“Tudor Giurgiu knows how to film beautifully and expressively. There are numerous shots with obvious visual appeal, meticulous compositions, inventive and surprising angles — without falling into the trap of ostentatious aestheticism — and I would guess that this is where Tudor Giurgiu’s main opportunities for development as a director lie. It may well be that Romanian cinema is on the verge of acquiring a new ‘stylist’ – in the best sense of the word.” – Mihnea Columbeanu, agenda.liternet.ro
“Unlike films such as Bertolucci’s ‘The Dreamers’, the love triangle in ‘Love Sick’ is imperfect: there is no attraction between Alex and Sandu, only jealousy and repulsion, with Kiki being the only link between them. The situation is somewhat comparable to that in Truffaut’s ‘Jules and Jim’, a film much admired by Tudor Giurgiu. There, too, a woman (Catherine) played the role of the link, but between two men (those were different times…).” – Mihai Fulger, agenda.liternet.ro
“The film thus breathes through the alternation of two types of sequences: one, as I said, lyrical-essayistic, with the triangle of young people (the Bucharest girl’s brother, Sandu – Tudor Chirilă, insinuates himself between the two girls), the other dramatic-humorous-distilled-satirical, with the two families symmetrical at opposite ends of the spectrum.” – Valerian Sava, agenda.liternet.ro
“What made Giurgiu so dizzy? Discretion, I suppose, but where does discretion end and fear of the subject begin? How much room for tact do you have left after you take a “strong” subject like love between two women and reinforce it with an even “stronger” subject, like incest? I would say that the solution is to go ahead, hoping that you will achieve something lyrical and crazy and transporting.” – Andrei Gorzo, agenda.liternet.ro
TRIVIA:
- The film marks the feature film debut of director Tudor Giurgiu. On CINEPUB, you can also watch his short films “The Audition” (2011), “Superman, Spiderman or Batman” (2011), and “Another Christmas” (2012).
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by Cecilia Ştefănescu. It took three years to adapt it into a screenplay. Tudor Giurgiu told jurnalul.ro about the writing process: “At first, I wrote with Cecilia. Then she wrote it alone, and finally, after we had been working on the story for about two years and it was already difficult for us to distance ourselves from the text, we asked Răzvan Rădulescu, the screenwriter of many films, including “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu“, to come in from the outside with a critical, objective eye.”
- Filming took place over a month and a half in various locations in Bucharest and in the village of Pietroșița in Dâmbovița County.
- When asked by Film Menu what he would change about the film six years after its release, Tudor Giurgiu replied: “I wouldn’t change the cast; no matter how much people hate Tudor Chirilă, I would still cast him in the film. People told me he was too arrogant in the film. Of course, his image as a rock star matters. But people noticed the girls’ acting a lot and, in my opinion, not enough of his. And there’s something else I like about the film: a kind of freshness, sensitivity, emotion—or at least I like to think so — which I value and which probably has something to do with me, or with who I was in those years.”
Lines:
• “Hey, isn’t that girl a bit of a slut?” – Alexandra’s father (Mircea Diaconu)
• “If the man from the local authority comes, tell him you’re my granddaughter. So we don’t get into trouble.” – Mrs. Beneș (Cătălina Murgea)
• “Not like those sluts I see on the street, with their pants so low you can see their belly buttons.” – Mrs. Beneș (Cătălina Murgea)
• “I knew that our breakup wouldn’t be dramatic, because that wasn’t how we lived. We were just two crazy girls living life to the fullest with the time we had left.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “Then we’ll see you when you get back. If you don’t find me dead.” – Mrs. Beneș (Cătălina Murgea)
• “You’re a beast and a bastard. And I’m your doormat. I’m your shadow.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “And even if I’m not the first one to call you to say happy birthday, you know very well that I’m the only one who matters.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “Your parents are so cool. They’re so calm. It’s like they’re on Prozac.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “Love has no chance if the author doesn’t believe in it.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “In a relationship, one person can be moral and the other immoral, but the relationship doesn’t necessarily have to be immoral.” – Cristina (Maria Popistașu)
• “I’m driving you crazy!” – Sandu (Tudor Chirilă)
• “Your daughter who pretends to be a saint is ruined! She’s a lesbian and she makes out with my sister!” – Sandu (Tudor Chirilă)
• “We raised you right. And you went to Bucharest and pierced your ears for earrings. Why?” – Alexandra’s father (Mircea Diaconu)
Media articles
- Probably now, in 2016, Romanians would be scandalized, or it would be more visible – blog.tiff.ro
- Love Sick – berlinale.de
- Tudor Chirila & Maria Popistasu – Love Sick – jurnalul.ro
- Love Sick will be distributed in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain – curentul.info
- Love Sick – icr.ro
- Love Sick, Tudor Giurgiu’s debut film – observatorcultural.ro
- Film reviews – Love Sick – agenda.liternet.ro
- Interview. Tudor Giurgiu – filmmenu.wordpress.com
