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Sweet Bitter Love
Screenplay by Rita Schiano
Logline: Two women’s fateful encounter in a local coffeehouse leads to a roller coaster romance burdened by the highs and lows of life with an alcoholic.
Sweet Bitter Love is the story of two women’s fateful encounter at a local coffeehouse that soon turns into a passionate love affair filled with wrenching twists and turns. Susan Fredrickson is an alcoholic battling personal demons and a brutal past. Her irrational behavior and struggles with intimacy stir haunting childhood memories in writer Jenny Ceretti, leading Jenny to much needed, yet agonizing, soul searching.
The story is a candid look at life with an alcoholic and at childhood experiences that haunt one’s adult relationships. It is seen through Jenny’s eyes and the filmgoer cycles through feelings of joy and passion, bitterness and deception as the women’s relationship unfolds.
Other characters include Susan’s 24-year-old daughter, Sarah, who remains steadfast, emotionally secure, and loyal despite a wretched upbringing at Susan’s hands.
Jane and Diane are Jenny’s good friends who are not afraid to speak the truth, no matter how difficult it may be for Jenny to hear. They are her “family,” her sounding board, and represent the kind of love Jenny so desperately wants in her life.
Although the story is told through a lesbian relationship, the theme is universal. With increasing efforts by the media to portray gays and lesbians outside the stereotypical box, Sweet Bitter Love’s timing is right.
NOTICE: This screenplay is an adaptation of my novel Sweet Bitter Love published by Rising Tide Press in 1997. As of February 2003, I am the exclusive owner of all rights and copyrights relating to the book and screenplay. The book was well received by reviewers, and continues to sell through Amazon.com.