Movie Synopsis
In He Loves Me He Loves Me Not, the main character Angelique is a gifted art student who is obsessed with a handsome stranger named Loic, a cardiologist. She creates a delusion about Loic after receiving a rose from him. Loic is married and expecting the birth of a child. The rose he gives to Angelique comes from a large bouquet intended for his wife to celebrate the pregnancy. From the brief encounter of generosity from Laic, Angelique begins to pursue him, leaving him presents and letters, but without revealing her identity. Later, she believes he is going to run away with her and waits for him at the airport. When he does not arrive, she falls into a deep depression. Angelique, an art student, makes obsessive and dark art and portraiture of Loic.
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"DeClérambault’s Syndrome or Erotomania in He Loves Me He Loves Me Not".
In her mind, she has had a full-blown love affair with Loic, and she is clearly confused and distraught that he does not acknowledge her. To the viewer, she appears to be lovesick and going through the mourning of a great break-up. However, it is her primary illness (mood disorder, bipolar, or schizophrenia) that is creating these symptoms. This is revealed much later in the film, when the events are rewound and shown from the perspective of Loic. His point of view reveals that there is a mysterious, secret admirer, but he believes it to be a patient of his, Sonya. When he feels threatened by Sonia, he confronts her and ends up hitting her and getting arrested. Later, Loic finds out where Angelique is staying, enters the house where she is house sitting and sees a life-size mosaic of himself and realizes that she is obsessed with him. When Laic tells Angelique that he does not want to be with her and that there is no way they will end up together, she snaps and hits him over the head with a bronze statuette. She is the arrested and taken to a mental institution where she spends five years in recovery.
A scene that accurately portrays the disorder
There are many scenes in the movie that accurately portray the disorder, such as Angelique’s severe mood swings, her delusional fantasies with the object of desire, the illogical actions for wish fulfillment and eventual violent behavior when confronted with rejection. Yet, I chose the final scene of the movie to analyze. In the ending, Angelique confesses fully to her psychiatrist and becomes aware of her affliction, delusions and wrongdoing after undergoing Electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). First, ECT is no longer employed in psychiatric treatment except in very rare cases. As a treatment, it fell out of popularity decades ago. However, the ending scene conforms to the most typical symptoms of the disorder/psychosis with the exception of the ECT. For instance, Angelique continues with the unrelenting belief that Loic is still in love with her, and continues with symptomatic behavior, like the art mural of medication that she leaves in her room at the mental institution.
Two Critical Thinking Questions
1. Are people who have DeClerambault’s Syndrome lucid and self aware enough to recognize their obsession and give it up?
2. How would a psychologist/psychiatrist have treated Angelique for her primary psychosis (severe mood disorder) and secondary illness (erotomania)?
