Love Sick (Legaturi bolnavicioase) had some promise in it from early on as we find that one of the friends has an unrequited love for the other, and that the other is harbouring a dark and potentially terrible secret. Instantly you are intrigued and this carries you through most of the movie.

It turns out that there's a bit of both happening in this storyline, but that neither is fully explored. As it is we're left watching the elements of the relationship that are left over once these two interesting aspects have been put to the side.

Throughout the film the dark secret threatens to raise its head in the relationships of the two girls or Christina's family, and yet it is brushed to the side with casual abandon. This happens again and again, and although the audience know perfectly well what the secret is, it's very annoying that it isn't taken out to the fore and explored with the other characters, for that is where the real meat of this story would seem to lie.

With that you would expect that the angle of the forbidden love hidden from the parents might carry the story forward, but even with that the relationship itself isn't developed. We get to see plenty of the couple enjoying being together and the odd argument between them, but there's no real development of the relationship. Suddenly it's on and just continues until the conclusion.

There are some moments where the story has the potential to develop in a different direction, and some of these are comedic, but they just seem to remain unexplored and pass by with a snigger. Other, more dramatic moments, present themselves often, as in Christina's brother returning to main plotline, but this thread of the story just briefly crosses over, continues off screen for a few scenes, and then disappears.

That said the leads perform well, with a strong performance seen from Christina, played by Maria Popistasu. She shows a strong range of emotions, and at points where the thread of the dark secret appears, she shows herself to be confused and struggling with something underneath the surface.

However the film remains overly long and expositional, missing key possibilities of the story that could have made this relationship far more interesting. Instead it looks far too lightly at the remaining relationship, passing through it at its least interesting. A definite missed opportunity.

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