 |
| Is Netflix’s Lovesick Based on a True Story? The Real History Behind the Mexican Romance. |
Netflix’s Lovesick, also known as Mal de amores, is not based on a true story, but its fictional romance unfolds against one of the most turbulent periods in Mexican history.
Developed by Catalina Aguilar Mastretta, the series follows Emilia Sauri, a young medical student whose relationship with her childhood friend Daniel Cuenca becomes increasingly complicated as the Mexican Revolution transforms the country around them. Daniel is deeply involved in the revolutionary movement, creating a growing divide between the pair as political unrest begins to affect almost every part of their lives.
The story is adapted from Mal de amores, the acclaimed historical romance novel by Mexican writer Ángeles Mastretta. The book uses Emilia's personal journey as a way of exploring Mexican society during the revolution, placing an invented protagonist inside real historical events rather than presenting the story of an actual person.
That distinction is important. Emilia Sauri is fictional, and the central relationship between Emilia and Daniel did not happen in real life. The political upheaval surrounding them, however, is drawn from genuine events that unfolded between 1910 and 1920.
There is one personal connection behind Emilia's name. Ángeles Mastretta has said that one of her eight great-grandmothers was named Deifilia Sauri, providing the inspiration for Emilia's surname. Beyond that detail, the character's life is a work of fiction.
Mastretta spent four years developing the novel and researching the period in considerable detail. Her research extended beyond the major political events of the revolution, looking at everyday life in the 1910s, including medical education, medicines and herbs, and ordinary items people would have bought or worn. That research helped create a setting in which Emilia's fictional experiences could exist alongside the realities of the era.
The Netflix adaptation is particularly personal in another sense. Catalina Aguilar Mastretta, Ángeles Mastretta's daughter, directs the series and co-wrote the screenplay with Daniela Gómez and Fernanda Eguiarte. Rather than treating the revolution simply as historical scenery, the adaptation uses the period to examine how enormous political changes can affect people whose lives continue in seemingly ordinary ways.
The Mexican Revolution itself provides the historical framework for the story. It began in 1910 amid opposition to Porfirio Díaz, whose long rule had faced criticism over political repression and deep economic and land inequalities. Francisco I. Madero challenged Díaz during the 1910 election, and after the disputed result, called for an uprising. Díaz eventually resigned in 1911, but the political conflict continued as different revolutionary movements pursued competing aims.
The situation became even more unstable in 1913, when Madero was removed from power during a military coup led by Victoriano Huerta and subsequently killed. Resistance to Huerta brought together major revolutionary figures including Venustiano Carranza, Álvaro Obregón, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. Their shared opposition eventually gave way to disagreements over what Mexico should become.
After Huerta's government fell in 1914, revolutionary factions split over political, land and social reforms. The Constitutionalists eventually emerged victorious, helping establish Mexico's 1917 Constitution. Political instability continued, however, until Álvaro Obregón assumed the presidency in December 1920, broadly marking the end of the revolutionary period.
That complicated history is what gives Lovesick its unusual balance between romance and historical drama. Emilia's relationship is fictional, but the forces surrounding her are not. Her private life develops while Mexico itself is undergoing a fundamental transformation.
For Catalina Aguilar Mastretta, that contrast between personal and public life is central to the story. The series is interested in what happens when people attempt to maintain relationships, pursue careers and make ordinary choices while the society around them is being reshaped.
The series also takes into account the fact that the revolution was not experienced identically throughout Mexico. Political developments differed between the north and south, as well as between rural communities and cities. Emilia's story provides a way to connect those different experiences without turning her into a historical figure.
So, while Lovesick is not a true story, it is firmly rooted in real history. Emilia Sauri and her romance with Daniel Cuenca were created for the novel, while the revolution that repeatedly changes the course of their lives is drawn from Mexico's actual past. The result is a fictional coming-of-age story set inside a decade that genuinely changed the country.