Watch Maldeamores

Also known as Lovesickness, Maldeamores (2007) examines the quixotic nature of love by weaving together three unique stories that all share the same theme. In the world created by directors Carlitos Ruiz Ruiz and Mariem Perez, the irony of love is that it is at once unpredictable and divine, devastating and uplifting. The movie's penetrating examination of love begins with a complicated love triangle set against the backdrop of the socioeconomic realities of a Puerto Rican middle class family. Ismael and Lourdes find their marriage challenged by Ismael's affair with Lourdes's cousin, Tati. The story is highlighted by the character of Ismaelito, Ismael's son, and Ruiz Ruiz and Perez use Ismaelito as the viewer proxy.

The second vignette in Madeamores takes place during a hostage crisis. The age old question of whether or not love can truly conquer all is asked as unrequited love leads one man to a desperate act. In this story, Miguel, who has long been in love with Marta, a bus driver who he has never confessed his feelings to, takes an entire busload of passengers hostage in his bid to propose marriage to her. The movie asks where the line between love and obsession lies and, in the end, the answer is ambiguous. Miguel's relationship to his mother is juxtaposed against his feelings for Marta as his mother's domineering personality, and his desire to free himself from her hold, seems to be the motivating force behind his actions.

Maldeamores's final act offers a commentary on the longevity of love while also showing that as love endures, it becomes more, and not less, complicated. The final story features an elderly trio embroiled in a love triangle that finds them questioning both the meaning of love and those choices made along the journey through life that can't be easily undone.

Maldeamores stars Luis Guzmán, Theresa Hernández, Ednali Figueroa, Luis Gonzaga, Delores Pedro, Fernando Tarazzo, Silvia Brito, Chavito Marrero and Miguel Ángel Álvarez.