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| Lovesick | |
|---|---|
.png) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Marshall Brickman |
| Written by | Marshall Brickman |
| Produced by | Charles Okun |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Gerry Fisher |
| Edited by | Nina Feinberg |
| Music by | Philippe Sarde |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10.1 million[1] |
| Box office | $10 million |
Lovesick is a 1983 Americanromantic comedy film written and directed byMarshall Brickman.[2][3] It starsDudley Moore andElizabeth McGovern and featuresAlec Guinness as the ghost ofSigmund Freud.[4]
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Psychoanalyst Saul Benjamin takes on a patient temporarily as a favor to a colleague friend, Otto Jaffe, who is infatuated with her. After Dr. Jaffe dies, Chloe Allen comes to see Dr. Benjamin and he is smitten with her immediately.
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 arrogantBroadway actor with whom she has become involved. Dr. Benjamin's wife Katie is also 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. Dr. 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.
Lovesick was one of two early-1980s films originally intended to starPeter Sellers. Production was to have begun in early 1981, once Sellers had finished shootingRomance of the Pink Panther. Sellers's death in July 1980, beforeRomance of the Pink Panther had even started production, meant that his roles in bothLovesick and 1984'sUnfaithfully Yours went toDudley Moore.
Lovesick was released in theatres on February 18, 1983.[2] The film was released onDVD on October 20, 1998, byWarner Home Video.[5]
Film criticVincent Canby wrote in his review, "Mr. Moore and MissMcGovern are such appealing lovers that the movie successfully bypasses all questions of ethics."[2] Book editorsLaurence 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."[6]
