Lovesick (1983 film)

Lovesick is a 1983 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marshall Brickman.[2][3] It stars Dudley Moore and Elizabeth McGovern and features Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud.[4]

Lovesick
Lovesick DVD cover
Directed byMarshall Brickman
Produced byCharles Okun
Written byMarshall Brickman
Starring
Music byPhilippe Sarde
CinematographyGerry Fisher
Edited byNina Feinberg
Distributed byThe Ladd Company
Warner Bros.
Release date
  • February 18, 1983 (1983-02-18)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10.1 million[1]
Box office$10,143,618

Plot

Psychoanalyst Saul Benjamin takes on a patient temporarily as a favor to a colleague friend, Otto Jaffe, who is infatuated with her. After her doctor dies, Chloe Allen comes to see Dr. Benjamin and immediately he is smitten with her, too.

The doctor-patient relationship is violated by Dr. Benjamin's romantic impulses toward Chloe and by his intense jealousy of anyone who comes near her, including Ted Caruso, an arrogant Broadway actor with whom she has become involved. The psychiatrist's wife also is carrying on an affair with Jac Applezweig, an artist.

The ghost of Dr. Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, visits Dr. Benjamin from time to time to dispense warnings and wisdom. Benjamin's work begins to suffer as he abandons patients like Mrs. Mondragon, finding her tedious, and treats the paranoia of another, Marvin Zuckerman, by designing a peculiar handmade hat for him to wear.

A board of inquiry calls in Dr. Benjamin to consider revoking his license. In the end, he admits his feelings to Chloe and concludes that he prefers true love to treating the sick.

In the film Sigmund Freud (Guinness) says, "It is in my professional opinion, as the man who invented psychoanalysis, that you are not Faign.", who is counseling Saul Benjamin (Moore).[5]

Cast

Reception

Release

Lovesick was released in theatres on February 18, 1983.[2] The film was released on DVD on October 20, 1998, by Warner Home Video.[6]

Critical response

Film critic Vincent Canby wrote in his review, "Mr. Moore and Miss McGovern are such appealing lovers that the movie successfully bypasses all questions of ethics."[2] Book editors Laurence Goldstein and Ira Konigsberg wrote in their book, The Movies: Texts, Receptions, Exposures, "One looks back with nostalgia to a time when psychotherapists are not fools like [...] lovesick fools like Dudley Moore [...] Psychotherapists were certainly portrayed as comic and horrific figures in earlier films, but they were a good deal of respect than in recent years."[7]

References

Citations
  1. "Lovesick". The Numbers. Beverly Hills, California: Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  2. Canby, Vincent (February 18, 1983). "DUDLEY MORRE RETURNS IN 'LOVESICK'". The New York Times. New York City: The New York Times Company. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  3. Rieber & Kelly 2013, p. 68.
  4. Gabbard & Gabbard 1999, p. 107.
  5. Nowlan & Nowlan 2013, p. 432.
  6. Lovesick. Warner Home Video. Burbank, California: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (Warner Bros. Entertainment). October 20, 1998. ASIN 6305133492. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  7. Goldstein & Konigsberg 1996, p. 11.

Sources
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