Doctor Love

An emotionally instabile young woman almost kills herself. Meet Karen. An austere older surgeon functions only at the operating table. Meet Craig. They’re two lost souls who briefly meet in hospital where he operates on her. When he also has an accident that costs him his career and sends him into a downward spiral, his former patient is on the other side of a customer service helpline, and, without knowing it, she saves his life. She works in a large anonymous call center where companies out-source their customer service. The clerks here have no relationship to product nor customer, except to take their data and diffuse any real human interaction. He calls there because he can't get over the malfunction of his automated garage door - it was working perfectly and, despite accurate use, it's jammed. He is, in fact, talking about his marriage, but there is no way he could actually talk about it. Much less talk to his wife. While trying to figure out when the marriage got stuck, he disassembles all the appliances of their posh household.  As he grows more and more obsessed with dissecting things, much to the irritation of his wife, his frequent calls to the hot line become his life-line. Leaving his home, his sobriety, and his former life behind, he starts on a search for the origin of the malfunction of his automated garage door.  Craig quickly leaves normal society, descends into the underbelly of the city where he disassembles a Ferris wheel, joins the homeless, does dangerous drugs, and goes to meet his old enemy and colleague Otto, whom he asks to amputate his arm.  Craig informs Karen of each of those adventures during his regular calls to the call center and she risks her job and last strand of dignity to stay on the line. She senses how lost he is and how vital the weird little conversations are to keep him alive. She can't help but see herself in him. While his wife and grown children do their best to search for the missing man, he escapes to a small empty house at the coast. He is here to end his life That's when his phone rings.  It is Karen. She calls just in time. Karen is dismantling her closet and needs some technical advice; this is more interesting to Craig than his suicide and he helps her out.  They continue their calls on their private phones, discussing technical and personal issues, and eventually Karen breaks her vow - she tries not to fall in love with nutcases any more. She secretly observes him in his hideaway at the coast. Not much later they meet in person.  They each carry something crooked in their hearts, a painful cut, and they can only show it to someone who is as disfigured. Circling each other in the sleepy village on the coast, they engage in a unique and tender romance.  In the end, their love sets them free to go back into their own lives. They say good bye. Both live and love happily ever after.