The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Asia Argento
Produced by
Screenplay by
  • Asia Argento
  • Alessandro Magania
Based on The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
by JT Leroy
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Eric Alan Edwards
Edited by Jim Mol
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 15, 2004 (2004-05-15) (Cannes)
  • January 19, 2005 (2005-01-19) (France)
  • May 7, 2005 (2005-05-07) (Japan)
  • July 15, 2005 (2005-07-15) (UK)
  • March 10, 2006 (2006-03-10) (US)
Running time
 98 minutes[1]
Country
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Japan
Language English
Box office $211,355[2]

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a 2004 drama film co-written and directed by Asia Argento and starring Argento, Jimmy Bennett & Dylan and Cole Sprouse (with Jimmy, Dylan and Cole sharing the role as Jeremiah). With a screenplay by Argento and Alessandro Magania, which is based on JT LeRoy's novel of the same name, the film received a limited theatrical release in North America on March 10, 2006.

The film concerns a tattered relationship between Sarah, a drug addict, and her young son, Jeremiah. Their life together is marked by Sarah's drug-taking and heavy drinking. The title is taken from Jeremiah 17:9.

Plot

Sarah (Asia Argento) becomes involved with a series of men who treat her and Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) poorly, and she uses them as an excuse to abandon her son. She disappears to Atlantic City with her boyfriend, Emerson (Jeremy Renner), and then abandons him; Emerson returns to their home and rapes Jeremiah. After a trip to hospital, Jeremiah's grandmother (Ornella Muti) takes him to a West Virginian radical Christian cult led by his grandfather (Peter Fonda). After he has been three years with the cult, Sarah returns to reclaim the 11-year-old Jeremiah (Dylan and Cole Sprouse).

Sarah's current lover, Kenny (Matt Schulze), a truck driver, eventually abandons them at a truck stop while Sarah is soliciting. Sarah realizes that if she is going to keep her men she cannot say Jeremiah is her son. She persuades Jeremiah to cross dress so he can act as her "little sister", and Jeremiah's cross-dressing evolves to include his mother's seduction techniques. After dressing up as a "baby doll" version of Sarah, Jeremiah/Sarah seduces Jackson (Marilyn Manson), his mother's latest man, who initially tries to rebuff the boy's advances, but then gives in. Sarah is furious with Jackson for giving in to the boy's advances and with Jeremiah for ruining her panties, and she takes Jeremiah and leaves.

Later, they are in a house where the basement houses a methamphetamine laboratory, which later blows up with Sarah's latest boyfriend inside. After fleeing, and while detoxing from methamphetamine, Sarah is convinced that everyone is after them and that only certain foods are edible (mainly chips and soda). She convinces Jeremiah that if they eat anything but those foods, they will be poisoned which leads them to a failed attempt to shoplift at a grocery store; afterwards, Jeremiah finds a hamburger to eat from a dumpster. His mother, in a state of "meth psychosis", is convinced the food he ate was poison, and makes him drink ipecac in order to make him better and rid him of any "poisons".

Jeremiah wakes up in the hospital with his grandmother beside him. She tells him that Sarah is in the psychiatric ward. Later that night, Sarah collects Jeremiah from his hospital room, and, rather than have him go back to the cult, she clutches his hand and they walk away in hospital gowns. The final scene is of Sarah and Jeremiah driving away.

Cast

Soundtrack

Although the soundtrack to the film was never commercially released, here is a list of different songs featured in the movie, along with the scenes they are played in.

Reception

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 41% rating based on 49 reviews. The site's consensus states: "The film aims to shock, but there is no higher reason for the parade of sordid images except to be."[3] On Metacritic, the film has a 27 out of 100 rating based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4]

References

  1. ↑ "THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS (15)". British Board of Film Classification. March 16, 2005. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  3. ↑ "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster.
  4. ↑ "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things". Metacritic. CBS Interactive.
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