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Poster for Touched with Fire

Touched with Fire

Some love breaks outside the boundaries of sanity.

2016 · 1h 42m · R Drama, Romance
Directed by Paul Dalio

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Overview

Carla and Marco are manic-depressive poets whose art is fueled by their emotional extremes. When they go off their meds, they end up in the same psychiatric hospital. As the chemistry between them stirs up their emotions, it intensifies their mania. Despite doctors' and parents' attempts to separate them, they pursue their beautiful but destructive romance which swings them from fantastical manic highs to suicidal depressive lows, until they have to choose between sanity and love.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
Fresh

Written, directed, edited, scored, and partially lived by bipolar filmmaker Paul Dalio, this intense romantic drama solely exists to prove that his so-called "disorder" isn't a dehumanizing defect.

David Ehrlich, Rolling Stone
Fresh

Dalio's script doesn't always flow as smoothly as the camera work, but an air of calm authenticity should leave audiences touched, in a good way.

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail
Fresh

"Touched With Fire" is effective in showing the intensity of a new relationship and the barriers people build up around themselves when they take on an us-against-the-world mentality.

Adam Graham, Detroit News
Rotten

"Touched With Fire" raises multiple topics of discussion, then avoids eye contact when it's time for the actual conversation.

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh

Dalio, who based the film (his directing debut) on his own struggles with bipolar disorder, establishes a gentle, honest tone that never wavers - and demonstrates a knack for vivid imagery that makes him a filmmaker to watch.

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

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