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Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Peter Fonda ... see more see more... , Ben Foster , Ornella Muti , Kip Pardue , Michael Pitt , Jeremy Renner , John Robinson (IX) , Marilyn Manson , Jeremy Sisto , Matt Schulze , Lydia Lunch , Winona Ryder

Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento directed this faithful screen adaptation of the fictional J.T. Leroy's fictional memoir, which documents a boy's truly harrowing road to adulthood. Jeremiah (Jimmy B... read more read more...ennett) is the seven-year-old son of Sarah (Asia Argento), an unstable and unwed mother who abandoned her son and left him to be raised by foster parents. Jeremiah has come to love his guardians, and is devastated when Sarah arrives at their doorstep, demanding her child back. Threatening Jeremiah with torture if he tries to run away, Sarah introduces her young son to drugs and encourages her one-night-stand paramours to help "discipline" her son when she feels his behavior is inappropriate. Sarah marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner), but abandons him shortly afterward; Emerson responds by molesting Jeremiah, and soon the child is left in the care of his grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti), members of a fundamentalist Christian sect which emphasizes child discipline that's strict to the point of abuse. After three years, Sarah returns with a new husband, Kenny (Matt Schulze), and takes Jeremiah (now played by Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) with her; Kenny spends most of his time on the road as a trucker, and Sarah supports the family at home as a stripper and a prostitute. Sarah also begins dressing her son is girl's clothing, which excites the perverse appetites of Sarah's latest boyfriend, Jackson (Marilyn Manson); she soon leaves Jackson and pairs off with Chester (Jeremy Sisto), a biker with a dangerous way of making a living. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Directors Fortnight" series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

70% liked it

9,076 ratings

Critics

41% liked it

49 critics

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Asia Argento

Release Date: October 8, 2004

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DVD Release Date: June 6, 2006

Stats: 693 reviews

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The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things Dylan Sprouse from "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" Cole Sprouse from The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things Dylan Sprouse from "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things" The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
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Flixster Reviews (693)

  • kiriyamakazou
    March 27, 2010
    kiriyamakazou
    Asia Argento presents a bleak, disturbing and horrific film. Argento refuses to undermine the story by offering no final solution. The films main purpose is to make the audience feel very uncomfortable. Problems like child abuse are easy to put aside as coverage of real life even... read morets must always be handled with tact. Argento goes for a more direct approach. Argento and the boys all give sterling performances, and are aided by a never-ending stream of boyfriends from Manson-Renner. The Sprouse boys have certainly come along way and their performances are intune with each other. Wonderful, but not light, stuff.
  • romy861
    August 16, 2008
    romy861
    This movie was excellent - extremely disturbing and certainly wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Jimmy Bennett is excellent as a little boy in foster care who's drugged up, hopeless, too awful for words mother comes back to claim him. What follows is so horrific that it came as q... read moreuite a relief to do a bit more research and discover the "true story" was in fact a hoax, but all the same, sure there are plenty of people out there this type of crap does happen to, and this was so well done. It has a few cameo appearances in it by various people such as Michael Pitt, Winona Ryder and Marilyn Manson - none of them are in it for more than a few minutes, so not worth renting just to see any of those if you are a fan. I was impressed with Winona's appearance though, it was darkly funny and actually nearly didn't recognise her.
  • deano
    August 12, 2007
    deano
    Really strange and awuflly true story of a poor innocent little boy's life turned hell while he spent with his drug-addicted hooker mother. I felt so sorry for a little boy. And actress-director-screenwriter Asia Argento who plays as a mother looks like a wild Courteney Love in t... read morehis film.
  • vierasesine
    April 17, 2007
    vierasesine
    Dis-tur-bing.
  • DrZeek
    December 27, 2006
    DrZeek
    Movies I never want to see again.

    An hour and forty minutes of a child being abused by his drug addicted mother. It's just very sad and a little scary if anything. You can say that there is good acting here, but the movie is too damn bleak, and not well in getting anything acros... read mores that is worthwhile.
  • wbgoose13
    December 30, 2006
    wbgoose13
    Depiction of child neglect is exceedingly unpleasant and downright petty.
  • CassieAnnette212
    March 4, 2011
    CassieAnnette212
    Words can not express what I was thinking while watching this movie; It was a year ago and my boyfriend and I still talk about the movie today.
  • scrambledegg7
    December 21, 2010
    scrambledegg7
    What IS the purpose of this movie? Nothing about it is redemptive, nor does it inspire any kind of action to prevent these kinds of things from happening. It's one of those films that seem to have come about when someone said, "How many horrible things can we have happen to a you... read moreng boy?" Nothing worth seeing in this but 2 hours of unnecessary misery.
  • rexsharpe
    February 2, 2010
    rexsharpe
    2/1/10 - God, I'm so glad this movie isn't a true story. What a horrible tale!! What a fantastic movie, tho!!! Yes!!!
  • louisthunter
    July 13, 2008
    louisthunter
    As pointless as it was heartless. I didn't help that the source material was a hoax. Not worth my time. I do, however, enjoy me some Jeremy Renner.

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Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday
April 13, 2006
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Reeks of a project desperate for edgy credibility. Full Review

Tamara Straus
March 24, 2006
Tamara Straus, San Francisco Chronicle

Now the fabricated story of a boyhood that included abandonment, rape and near constant fear and humiliation is a movie. The result is unwatchable. Full Review

Ty Burr
March 24, 2006
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Vile beyond redemption. Full Review

Carina Chocano
March 18, 2006
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times

It's a taxing bit of exploitation, which, although you're glad to know it's a work of fiction, doesn't exactly make a case for itself as art. Full Review

Roger Ebert
March 18, 2006
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There is no redemption, no surcease, and as the film ends the barbarity continues. This film made me intensely uncomfortable, but that was its intention. Full Review

Jessica Reaves
March 18, 2006
Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

At best, this film raises an all-too-relevant question: Are true-life stories interesting because they're true? Or because they're interesting? At worst, it raises a different question: What if they'r... Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 10, 2006
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Stripped of all its lurid backstory, the fictional tale is revealed onscreen to be a mere catalog of horrors, an ugly grafting together of Dickens and America's Most Wanted. Full Review

Lou Lumenick
March 10, 2006
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Watchable in a train-wreck kind of way, but you'll probably want to take a shower afterwards.

Jack Mathews
March 10, 2006
Jack Mathews, New York Daily News

This is an execrable movie. Full Review

Manohla Dargis
March 9, 2006
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Viewer discretion is advised, if only because it's well-nigh unwatchable.

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