Love can bring peace, joy, and happiness into our lives, but sometimes it also brings stress, pain, and disappointment. But can love take over our minds? Is your lover truly your lover, or have you, like a scriptwriter, created everything in your own imagination?
Starring Audrey Tautou, À la folie… pas du tout (He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not) is a powerful work that invites viewers to question whether they are witnessing a true love story or a mere illusion.
In this article, we will analyze Delusional Disorder – Erotomanic Type through the character of Angélique. Let’s begin.
The Film’s Structure and Psychological Layers
The film is deliberately structured to deceive the audience. In the first half, we watch the story unfold through Angélique’s mind: Dr. Loïc — who is married and expecting a child — is portrayed as having a forbidden love affair with her.
However, the second half reveals the reality: Loïc is completely unaware of Angélique’s existence and has, in fact, become her victim.
He is divorcing his wife, has lost his job and child, and suffers injuries after Angélique’s attack. Meanwhile, Angélique attempts suicide, commits murder, and is institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital.
What is Erotomania?
But what exactly is erotomania, the force behind these tragic events?
Erotomanic disorder is classified under delusional disorders in the DSM-5. In this condition, the individual believes that a person — usually of high social status — is secretly in love with them. Although irrational, the delusion is as firm as believing that two plus two equals four.
In the film, Angélique’s unwavering belief is evident when she waits for hours in a hotel lobby for Loïc, who knows nothing of any arranged meeting.
In erotomania, the person imagines they have a real and significant place in the other person’s life. Believing they are lovers, they may send gifts, leave voicemails, or confront the person unexpectedly about missed appointments.
Rarity and Representation of Erotomanic Disorder
Erotomanic disorder is rare. It is also little known and seldom discussed. When portrayed in cinema, it is often romanticized rather than realistically depicted.
This film, however, stands out for its authentic, unromanticized portrayal of erotomania.
Is It Just Erotomania?
Erotomanic disorder, like many other psychiatric conditions, can co-occur with additional disorders. The main comorbidities associated with erotomania include schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder.
Examining Angélique closely reveals elements suggestive of borderline personality disorder.
Despite the lack of a real relationship, she exhibits an intense fear of abandonment. As often seen in borderline personality disorder, she displays overcompensating behaviors, constant monitoring, and pervasive anxiety persistently following Loïc, sending anonymous letters, and offering gifts.
Another clue pointing to borderline traits is her black-and-white thinking.
In this cognitive style, there is no room for shades of gray: a person is either perfect or terrible. This rigid thinking severely disrupts the ability to maintain stable and healthy relationships.
Additionally, Angélique shows the fragility of her sense of self. She lives — and even kills — for love. Her entire identity and self-worth are built around how much she is loved.
Receiving love and validation is everything to her.
Moreover, focusing on the film’s cinematographic techniques and Angélique’s point of view, we see her disconnection from reality. Such dissociative experiences are common in both erotomania and borderline personality disorder.
Finally, Angélique demonstrates self-harming behavior, frequently seen in borderline patterns. Realizing that Loïc will never leave his wife, she attempts suicide.
The Truth Behind the Closet: The Delusion Lives On
In the final scenes, Dr. Loïc discovers the devastating truth:
Angélique is responsible for the loss of his child, his career collapse, his broken marriage, and the committed murder.
Determined to leave, he starts gathering his belongings from his office.
At that moment, Angélique enters, asks where he is going, and demands to go with him.
Loïc, furious and overwhelmed, harshly rejects her.
Following the revelations, Angélique undergoes psychiatric evaluation.
The court, based on the examination, determines she lacks criminal responsibility and orders her transfer to an inpatient psychiatric facility.
After a significant time at the clinic, we witness Angélique’s final session with her psychiatrist. She says:
“There is a world inside my head. A completely different world. In that world, Loïc loves me and protects me. Today, I know that world isn’t real. It was just a dream.
Everyone dreams of a perfect love. I just went a little too far.”
As viewers, we let out a deep sigh of relief, believing the story has finally come to a close but the final scene is yet to come.
Angélique gathers her belongings and casually leaves the psychiatric clinic. Shortly after, a staff member enters her empty room. When he moves the wardrobe, he discovers a chilling sight: Angélique, an artist, had spent years collecting the pills she never took and used them to create a portrait of Loïc.
The film concludes with this powerful scene.
Ultimately, Angélique had not only deceived her psychiatrist — she continued to deceive herself. Perhaps it was her silent act of resistance, or perhaps reality had simply become a burden too heavy for her to bear.