While He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002) has uninteresting character dynamics and a predictable plot twist, the film mocks society’s prototype of a mentally ill patient and opens the French to a sub-genre -psychological disorder thrillers- already adored by audiences worldwide.

An art student is having a secret love affair with a married cardiologist until it takes a darker turn, turning this forbidden love into a story of stalker and obsession. 

The film is split into two parts: one where we are told the story through Angelique’s perspective and the other through the doctor’s perspective. The scenes play as follows: Angelique is in a flower shop -flowers have heavy symbolism within the film- picking out a flower for his birthday, she meets the doctor in secret such as a public restroom, the turning point is when Dr. Garrec doesn’t turn up to the airport where Angelique is waiting patiently to fly to their romantic getaway. 

More events unfold until Dr. Garrec’s perspective is shown. 

Dr. Garrec mistakenly assumes the flowers are from his wife, he coincidentally meets Angelique wherever he goes whether it’s in a public restroom or outside his neighbor’s home, and is revealed to have never planned a trip with Angelique. 

By the end of the film, the audience now realizes what an unreliable narrator Angelique is as she is taken away, being diagnosed with Erotomania. 

Erotomania is a delusional disorder one has when they are infatuated with another person to the point of believing imaginary scenarios with that other person ex) Angelique believes she has a secret affair with Dr. Loic Le Garrec.

Now, my review: I’ve got to say that the trailer ultimately ruined the experience for me, I was already waiting for the death scene to happen before the opening flower shop scene ended. There was nothing in the movie that I didn’t already see in some Lifetime movie with the title “____ next door” -I’ll discuss later why this a forgivable trait of the movie- which seems a little harsh, but I don’t review movies to give them gold star ratings at the end of the day.

I didn’t feel pity or remorse for Angelique when her plans continually fell through with her and the doctor -I’m aware that the trailer already tipped me off to not root for her- because she wasn’t given any character depth besides being obsessed with Dr. Garrec, pushing all her real friends away, and being an art student. She was this missed opportunity blank canvas -haha, get it? Cause she’s an art student- that if given more alone scenes and/or defining traits, the twist would have been a more “Oh Wow!” moment.

This isn’t really a complaint but an understandable choice that I observed from the movie. Dr. Garrec barely had any character if at all. He really was just a normal guy, emphasizing the point that erotomania objects of obsession can be anyone from a past lover to a stranger in the vicinity. Dr. Garrec wasn’t supposed to be a likeable guy because if he was, this would just be a regular stalker story. But the film drives in the point that Angelique is sick and mentally unstable.

Something I also appreciated was the chosen actress for Angelique. High off the international success of Amelie, Audrey Tautao at the time was one of France’s most well respected actresses. She was also a model, doing photoshoots with Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire. 

Back then, prototypes of mental patients used to be old hags shackled in chains speaking witchcraft. To use one of the most beautiful and highly sought after names in film to portray a mentally insane person -a controversial role back then- would challenges society’s views on what someone with a mental illness looks like.

Now let me switch gear for a second: What does Late Night Show’s David Letterman and Jodie Foster have in common? You may recognize these names as highly profiled celebrities, A-listers in fact. And in one time or another, they were the targets of history’s notorious stalker cases. 

Now, these stalker stories range from Margaret Mary Ray stealing Letterman’s Porsche from his driveway to a mental institute patient attempting to kill US President Ronald Reagan. With bizarre scenarios like this, it’s no wonder that American TV and film have capitalized on this story arch with movies like Fatal Attraction, The Boy Next Door, One Hour Photo, and more. 

So, we’ve learned from countless movies depicting psychological disorders that the American film industry loves including characters with erratic behaviors. Is there a cultural difference between how American films depict mental illness and French films? Is there a diffferent stigma behind mental illness in France?

In 2018, the FondaMental Foundation -a French research facility dedicated to the fight against mental illnesses- declared a “state of emergency” for the French psychiatry department. 

The lack of resources and professional staff, high cost for medical care, and taboo nature of addressing mental health concerns are what 12 million French people with mental disorders had to deal with. 

Removing the taboo or stigma behind the mentally ill was clearly not a government priority back then.

In 2002, there were French protests organized by the Mental Health Alliance (MHA) against a bill that could detain those with psychological disorders.

And in 2017, the Roamer Project reported that the French government used only 4% of their medical research budget for psychiatry.

Luckily, the French government and film industry has been seen to make progress. 2007 shows that 8% of the French government’s budget was used to treat those with mental and behavioral disorders. There have been French filmmakers like Johnathan Bucari exploring the stigma behind mental illness such as in his short film Illness (2013).

In conclusion: This movie wasn’t perfect, but it did break barriers for French psychiatry and brought awareness to mental health. For some viewers, this could have been one of the first French portrayals on the dangers of untreated physicatry.