I Love Valentine's Day!: Hello! How Are You?

Here is a foreign love story.  This unconventional romantic story ends with a believable yet still not quite happy ending.  A married couple unbeknownst to each other chat online and fall in love again. This takes place in Romania and I guess the internet is not as pervasive there/not everyone has a computer. The couple, both named Gaby (Gabriel and Gabriela) seem happy and committed, but uninspired in their marriage. They have a teen son who seems to only think about sex, and has been bugging them for a computer, "for school" he says (but we know it is for other reasons!) Neither of his parents are knowledgeable on the computer.

Gabriel (Ionel Mihailescu) works as a page turner for a small orchestra and is often on tours away from home. We find out later that he was an accomplished musician but a hand accident forced him to give up his performance career. During one tour a musician asks him to accompany him to a tryst so that the friend can break up with his mistress, but as they end up having sex Gabriel spends time at an internet cafe and online in a chat room, which he has never done before.

Gabriela (Dana Voicu) works in a dry cleaner’s shop, where they have a new computer system she must learn. Her younger and more sexy coworker shows her a chat room where, without realizing who each other is, Gabriela and Gabriel connect and eventually fall in love. They both feel guilty but also in that blush of love, feeling as if the other really understands them. Although neither is truly unfaithful, either with their internet personas or other people in their physical lives, they spy on each other in innocent meetings with others and assume the worst.

Meanwhile, their son has his own sexual misadventures, where he THINKS he wants any one of the randy girls who pursue him, but instead falls for the nerdy girl instead.

The film is oftentimes cute and lighthearted, and how they display the text of their chats keep you clear on who is saying/doing what. As such I expected a neat/happy romantic comedy ending, which this film doesn’t give. That is my only major complaint which I guess is a personal one.  The story does explore many facets of the couple’s relationship, but doesn’t dig too deeply into why the couple would find solace in someone else. I see that they have some problems which they don’t address with each other, but at the heart of it these are two good people, nice people, who don’t hate each other, so to have these relationship problems seem a little false/contrived. Both of them are equally at fault but take different attitudes at the end, which I commend the film for showing, but up to that point it was pretty much a romantic comedy so to have a sad ending was unlike the film. But still, enjoyable.