Love to Trust or Trust to Love?

In Hal Hartley's film Trust, Maria Coughlin has just been dumped after telling her high school sweetheart that she is pregnant with his child. The boyfriend revokes all previous statements of love and support he has given to her, and screams at her to get away, as he has to focus on getting a football scholarship for college. Because of his sudden abandonment and empty promises, Maria's quest to find trust and love carries her throughout the rest of the film. A common criticism of young love is how naive and suffocating it can be. Maria exemplifies the typical unsophisticated and malleable young person, who then goes on to think they understand the world simply because of this experience. The issue I take with this movie and primarily this character, is how she uses this past relationship in order to find the exact opposite of it in her next, rather than taking the time to reflect and learn. Her immediate reaction to her break up, is to find what she now thinks is real love, someone to trust. However, in my opinion, trust does not have to be present in order to love someone. Part of what love is, which is a popularized opinion, is that to love another is to risk your own well being to feel validated and supported in return. Maria's naive and protective response to her initial break up pushes her into a relationship with a stranger, who, one could argue, is the first person in her life to worry about her health and happiness. She requires this boyfriend, Mathew, to promise her that love requires trust, admiration, and respect. This forceful and insecure route to feel she is in love pushes her to get into unsafe situations solely on the basis of her wanting to feel what she didn't get out of the first relationship. I believe people can love each other without trusting, especially if we are to differentiate love and being in love. Being in love is a far more selfish and individualistic philosophy on love; which if anything, is where Maria and Mathew are at.