Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

"We can't rewrite our own histories but we can learn the truth about them."

[juneebuggy · 4/10 · 10 May 2015]

This was a pretty terrible adaption of Sue William Silverman's memoir about a wife struggling to understand and overcome her obsessive sexual behaviour that compels her to have multiple affairs.

Its a Lifetime movie so I wasn't expecting much but considering the subject matter it was relatively bland. Not much sex here for a movie about sex addiction, mostly just one affair shown in wistful remembrances. I did however enjoy David James Elliott (JAG) in a wasted role as affair guy #1.

Ultimately I would have liked to have seen more of a progression of 'Sue's' behaviour, instead we just join a seemingly bored housewife arranging flowers, cooking dinners for her husbands business partners, lunching with friends who has an affair. And then another. The only real sign of an uncontrollable problem was her habit of collecting tokens, and some obsessive behaviour when it came to believing or needing these married men love her. Honestly her life never seemed that out of control to me. Not in an "addict" way at least. I think this aspect probably came through better in the book.

I will though once Sue entered therapy and admitted that there'd been hundreds of men and affairs the whole sexual addiction thing made more sense. I guess they left that out to make it all the more shocking later on. The reasons why she behaved the way she did was very sad but ultimately not resolved as nobody goes to jail for what they did to her. 4/19/15

Lifetime sex movie without sex

[Pro Jury · 5/10 · 27 December 2008]

*** This contains spoilers. ***

"Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict" is about a bored wife feeling guilty about having affairs. Having been around highly sexed people with heightened sensuality, I was more than disappointment with what is depicted here. Oversexed people effortlessly relate every mundane thing into personal sensuality. That smell of fresh cut grass... "is orgasmic." That food... "is almost as good as sex." They seek out pleasures and seek out endless toe-curls in every moment. Over sexed people are super sensual before sex and after sex. 24 hours a day -- their antenna is always up. Feeling. Touching. Warm seeking warm.

"Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict" all too briefly hints at the heightened sensuality (smelling a saved leaf from a first kiss), but a truly overly sensual person would have to go further using the leaf already so close to the face to tickle the lips, tickle the cheeks, the cleavage -- squeezing out every sensation. "Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict" does not really explore the world of the over-sexed over sensual. Too bad. The director uses many extreme close-ups. The actors are mostly OK. The ingredients are there, but this TV movie remains boringly inside the conventional.

"I found love here"... based on Sue Silvermann's book

[MarieGabrielle · 9/10 · 2 December 2011]

While the film title is a bit trite, and has been used many times, this is a decent made for TV film that can help women.

I had not read the book but based on Ms. Silvermann's experiences this film shows Sally Pressman ( rather believable, and empathic) as bored housewife looking for an outlet. She doesn't understand however, why she is never satisfied ( whether it be home, family or with her various involvements with assorted men).

The marital discord begins when she is bored with her marriage and begins to let go. There is a dysfunctional relationship with her father which comes to light later in the story.

Sue finds herself searching for happiness, or even just a sense of fulfillment from men, and any male attention. It is damaging to her psychologically, yet she keeps repeating the same pattern.

As she enters therapy she begins to become self-actualized and finds there is a reason for her "acting out" behavior and need for male attention.

Overall, this film was done rather well for an LMN movie as it touches on some realities which newly married women must deal with, and also the psychology of relationships and how she ends up becoming involved with certain men. recommended. 9/10.

The Sue Silverman Story

[lavatch · 8/10 · 28 November 2019]

Based on a true story, "Love Sick" unfolds like a memoir. The film opens with a quote: "We're the product of our choices." But the therapist in the film makes it clear that the choices may be twisted by the circumstances of our lives. Ultimately, the protagonist Susan Silverman needs a new vocabulary to release the healthy person and let go of her addict from within.

The first half of the film primarily drew upon examples of poor choices in men made by Sue. Her husband Andrew is clearly not in touch with her feelings. Rick is a happily married family man, who wants Sue as a plaything and would never tell her that he loves her. A casual pick-up in a bar is only a one-timer for Sue. And the smooth-talking Frenchman named Laurent makes promises to her that he cannot keep, finally dismissing her with the insulting line, "Forgive me; I've forgotten your name."

The second half of the film probes beneath the surface of Sue's life. She and her "poppa" had their own little secret beginning at age five. Since then, there have been hundreds of lovers for Sue, as she attempts to fill a bottomless pit. When she is admitted to clinic, she draws a picture of a figure with an empty heart. She is trying to come to terms with what her therapist Robert Gardner calls "the addict's dance."

The performance of the lead actress playing Sue truly captured the essence of a character slowly dying from inside of a disease she could not identify until the self-probing took place in clinic. Her goal in life was to write the great American novel. But her life-changing experience was, in the end, to confront the truth about her life that allowed her to recover her lost soul.

Excellent movie, but need to read her books

[moviewatcher2010 · 10/10 · 28 March 2022]

The disclaimer that this film is inspired by a true story is correct. The film is an excellent portrayal of a woman with a sex addiction and the therapy she receives (Sally Pressman does an amazing job as Sue William Silverman). However, you would need to read Sue William Silverman's book Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You to get the whole backdrop on her past to see what really lead her to a desperate need to feel loved. In reality, her father had sex with her from the time she was five until she left home for college and her mother was physically abusive, as well as turning a blind eye to her husband repeatedly having sex with his daughter. Her subsequent book Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict chronicles her 28 days at the hospital, each chapter being a day and what she is processing. When she is released from the hospital, she has a very long way to go. Her husband never left her when she went into the hospital, got together with her when she was there, and he was there when she got out. At the time, she still had not disclosed anything to him and is pondering when or if she will tell him. On the whole, Sue William Silverman is a true survivor.