The story unfolds in a messy hotel room, where a young girl is sitting alone in a corner of the room, watching chick flicks or romantic comedies and crying like she hadn’t received any form of affection in a long time. She is visibly disturbed and she needs to leave that hotel room as fast as she can, because she doesn’t want this kind of life anymore. Soon, her boyfriend arrives, promising her that they will have a better future together and a wealthy and carefree life, but she knows that she has to escape from this emotionally abusive relationship.

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Fervently performed, the woman’s character is full of personality, being very convincing in her tough role of an oppressed woman who, throughout that night, had to deal with various situations. The male character is the one who puts her in a desperate position, where she doesn’t have any choice but to fight back.

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The so called ‘love story’ of these two characters is full of tension and hard moments, when some life threatening decisions must be taken and this particular details arouse the curiosity of the viewers, keeping them mesmerized till the end. From the various close-ups shot from different angles, to the alternative editing that gives a dynamic and turmoil atmosphere, focusing the attention on certain details, all make the situation more intimate or, like a puzzle, help in the building of the narrative structure. This film really stands out for portraying this captivating and realistic situation that the characters have to go through, especially when it comes to a relationship that has been through a lot and is destined to fail.

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“Orbiting Without Sugar” is indeed a thought-provoking dark love story, that talks about the limits of a relationship and what are the higher interest of both partners. The film is surely worth watching, being filled with very powerful and beautifully expressed material.