L'amour nuit gravement à la santé

In the 60s , Madrid , Beatles are in Spain , two young people, a gorgeous girl named Diana (Penelope Cruz) and the bellboy named Santi (Gabino Diego) meet at a luxurious hotel room as a result of their devotion to John Lennon . Later on , they take diverse ways , however they will have a recurring relationship during the next thirty years at the oddest places , in the most strange moments , and during historical events that defined ulterior decades . Years later , Diana (One time grown-up performed by Ana Belen) will marry a cocky , wealthy man (Luis Fernando Alves) , she will divorce him and marry an Italian tenor named Raimondi (Carles Sans) . While , Santi (one time grown-up played by Juanjo Puigcorbe) has already married María José (Laura Conejero) and her unfaithfulness is bringing him lots of problems .

A very pleasant romantic comedy plenty of humor , emotion , sensitive scenes and mayhem . "Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health" is Pereira's return to top form, with an intelligent and engaging script which uses amusing situations to give us a good movie in a high sense and intimate sensitivity and that kept me entertained for the almost two hours and some of duration . Rightly enjoyable and fun-filled , milestone comedy which neatly combines humor , mirth , entertaining situations and amusement . Pay attention as one couple of younger actors very well played by Gabino Diego and Penelope Cruz alternate with the other pair of older players perfectly performed by Ana Belen and Juanjo Puigcorbe to recreate this 30 year span in this splendid comedy . Flawless story with a quartet of sensational protagonists , including an unforgettable Penelope Cruz who though plays a secondary acting , she parades sexily at her best and more relaxed and enticing than ever . The hit of the show is undoubtedly for the fetching Penelope who gives one of the best screen acting . I liked everyone in the excellent cast, and the male and female actors , especially Penelope Cruz , were all very attractive . I have seen many, Hollywood-romantic-comedies that couldn't compare with this one, but many give them a higher rating because they are Hollywood-made . The screenplay manages a lot of laughs from the audience and romantic elements that you never loose your attention from the film. The only flaw I can find is that some of the story lines are left unexplained and some character arcs end up being implausible. Some situations are laugh out loud ridiculous and the story proceeds at a breakneck speed that never flags . This movie is a lot of fun and well worth the time. I enjoyed the film tremendously and I guarantee you that if you rent it, you'll enjoy it and have a few laughs. It was funny, great actors and a super soundtrack composed by recently deceased Bernando Bonezzi . Furthermore , a colorful and evocative cinematography by Juan Amoros . Nice special effects showing historical deeds in ¨Forrest Gump¨ style . Rating : Better than average Spanish comedy , you will be glad to saw it. The picture will appeal to Penelope Cruz fans .

The motion picture was well written and directed by Manuel Gomez Pereira . He usually writes his films and occasionally for other directors as "What Makes Women Laugh?" by Joaquin Oristell who in "Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health" is screenwriter and producer ; both of them are ordinary collaborators . Pereira is an expert on comedies as ¨¨Rose sauce¨, Why do they call it love when they mean sex ?¨, ¨Mouth to mouth¨ , "All Men Are the Same" , though he also has made some drama as ¨The hanged man¨ and ¨Between your legs¨ . His latest projects, however, tanked as "Off Key" starred by an American-all star cast but was a failure both economically and artistically or simply didn't deliver as "Atrévete y Verás" . Nowadays , he directs TV chapters as ¨Gran Reserva¨ and ¨Cheers¨ series .

Usually, stories about lovers and mistress are drama en end in blood. Here, it's the opposite: it's funny and happy. The idea is original and is well played as the separated lovers meet all along their life in Spain. So it's a good way to learn about the evolution of this country and its people, especially with their King. But there's more as the first look comes from the Beatles! It's Pené who plays the young lady and she is cute in this old fashion. With the years, the mature woman is played by Ana Belen, who has the same sexy look than a very famous Justice Minister of my country (RD). Thus, it's 100% Latin charm and not at all superficial: their story really speaks about why people can have two loves: as i write for "Douche froide", the reason is the difference. So it's not really about a competition of lovers, of choosing the best as they are unlike and opposite. In a way, they can be in good terms together, the bad side is that the unofficial lover is stuck to bits and leftover: he can't never access the best level because if he did, there's no more difference thus no more desire. So it's funny and tragic to see those lovers meet, dream and leave as it's their fate. In addition, it's never repetitive as there's a lot of humor, due to the facts that they must do little lies, silly plans for their official families.

Again a good surprise from my neighbors !

Just a week ago I was have this conversation with a friend; she said she wanted to find a man who would marry her and would agree both of them to live in separate places, with their own personal lives. They would be together only when they felt like it. That's the relationship that works, in her opinion; in mine, that's choosing the easy way.

The premise of the movie is very interesting, even though reminiscent of Forrest Gump. The movie itself raises a lot of questions about love, lust, relationships, marriage and ultimately, about sharing a life and the evolution of love in a relationship.

The movie starts well, setting a warm mood, and delivers us a promising story with funny moments. After the first hour this cozy movie begins to turn too repetitive and its otherwise empathetic and cheerful main characters start to make you uncomfortable. We all know passion doesn't last forever and that love has its own evolution in a relationship. We also know time and distance help to heal frustrated love stories.

And as the movie goes by, chance puts the characters in a perpetual never-ending confront about their feelings for each other almost in a masochist way. Even though this is a comedy, we can see the characters suffer with their impossible love, and at certain point I lost total empathy with the characters - they are only in pain because they don't want to make a decision, for the good or for the bad - so the movie becomes boring and overlong running almost two hours.

Hopefully this is a comedy and the title - Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health - could not be more appropriate.

After a well-handled and intriguing light-comedy scene at a reception for the King of Spain, this film returns us to that moment through a thirty-year-long flashback told through numerous rather distinct scenes, each striving toward another amorous turn of triumph in the enduring attraction of the two main characters. The quality of those triumphs matures over time, and in each we confront, to varying degrees, light suspense, nostalgia and humor. The dialogue is at times hilarious - quick turns of phrases, clashes of word choice with social surroundings, etc., but of course understanding the Spanish is at times essential for full comic appreciation.

In the first half of the film occurs a short sequence of rapid-fire madcap stunts that surprise and work well, but thereafter, slapstick is largely absent through the remainder of the film - or at least till the end. As already hinted, some of the scenes end so successfully, and with a sentiment seeming so perfectly to wrap up the film, that I was momentarily disillusioned to see it continue.

As for acting, the leading actors project wonderfully and are capable of charm and "sutileza" (the English spelling escapes me at the moment). I order zone-2 dvds from Spain and received this along with Cielo Abierto, which I rate higher (I like Albaladejo's work). Yet I give this a 7-rating. With many films I can envision how I might reorder or change the work - with El amor perjudica seriamente la salud, I find the basic plot extremely challenging - yet when it did end, all in my family left the room smiling and laughing. There is no graphic sex, and whatever violence that occurs is comic. The language is non-offensive, at least to Spanish sensitivities. Probably my favorite film with a plot vaguely-vaguely similar to this one is Avanti, with Jack Lemmon.

This started as something curious to watch, something light. Well that changed almost imperceptibly as I was drawn into the film and the story.

In a way it's a typical story line, yet not so typical as so few people have experienced what happens to the characters. The emotional levels really pull you up and down as the movie explores the idea of true love vs. lust and romance vs. marriage. Also exploring ideas about getting what you want in life materially and career and classes of society and how those intertwine with attraction and love.

The music was also very moving, making the emotions that much stronger. I'm a man and yet it made me laugh and cry ... making me think back to events in my own life.

Life can be so simple and pure if we want it to be .... but is that boring?