AT THE CINEMA - L'AMORE E ALTRI RIMEDI. LOVE & OTHER DRUGS.

Can love be a drug? Can it become  addiction?  Mmm, the answer is "Yes, it may, but I didn't learn it from this film". Just released in Italy as "L'amore e altri rimedi", "Love and Other Drugs " is  a movie I wanted to see while  in London last December (it was released on December 28th in the UK, and had previously come out in the USA on November 24, 2010) . I preferred booking a seat at The Old Vic  and I had a great time with Feydeaus's A Flea in Her Ear. So I saw Love and Other Drugs dubbed and here last weekend - and you know how much I hate watching dubbed stuff! However, it was a lovely, romantic, sexy comedy,  though not as good as I expected. 
It starts as a comedy, a very funny one, maybe trivial but funny. It is also a sexy comedy with hints and jokes about sex and explicit sex scenes involving the protagonists, caught into a passionate love affair. But then , almost without realizing, you found yourself involved in a dramatic, romantic, touching story of deep love and deasease. And it doesn't stop there: social commentary and criticism, satire against the power of pharmaceutical  industry, analysis of how one of the most terrible degenerative deseases can influence the lives of patients suffering from it and their dear. Maybe too much for only one film?

Plot: Maggie (Anne Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone - or anything - tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.

(detailed summary)

The Book. Adapted from  Jamie Reidy's, "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman", published in l 2005. This story tells about Reidy's experiences in the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and about his talent at getting the most with the least possible effort. His applying a personal method of judgement,  different according to the situation, instead of applying always  the firm's rules  brought him to be fired in the end. The publication of his book on the experience caused his being fired from the new firm he was working for later on.

The Parkinson Desease

Knowledge is power and hope is everything for people like Maggie, suffering from Parkinson at only 26, and also for Jamie, who decides to share his life with her.

It is a progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Early in the course of the disease, the most obvious symptoms are movement-related, including shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, and difficulty with walking and gait. Later, cognitive and behavioural problems may arise, with dementia commonly occurring in the advanced stages of the disease.

Jamie's final decision in the movie is  accompanied by rethorical and predictable words, however they are all sweetness and bravery (or  maybe blindness) and you cannot be left untouched - especially if you are as romantic as I am. 

The Protagonists

 Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. They are two hotties but also two talented actors, convincing in their performances here. They had already played a couple, a married couple in Brokeback Mountain (2005). Anne's Laureen was rather cold in that film, while in Love and Other Drug she passionate Maggie. Jake's Jamie is initially a very selfish, shallow young man collecting affairs who turns  better after meeting Maggie. He was very sensitive and preferred Heath Ledger to Anne Hathaway in 2005 Oscar winning movie.

They had to shoot very intimate, explicit sex scenes including nudity about which Anne Hathaway declared that she did not believe her nudity in the film would put off socially conservative people who would otherwise see the film, saying "just because nudity is such a contentious issue in America people believe that they automatically alienate the conservative parts of America by having nudity. But I give the American public more credit than that. I think that people are curious and people do love love stories... I think people might find it and like it, even though it is a little bit risky.'"

Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen in Becoming Jane (2007 )...

... as Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)