The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004)
Average Rating: 5/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 29
The film aims to shock, but there is no higher reason for the parade of sordid images except to be "cool."
Average Rating: 3.2/10
Critic Reviews: 16
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 14
The film aims to shock, but there is no higher reason for the parade of sordid images except to be "cool."
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 9,221
My Rating
Movie Info
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 Bennett) 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
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Asia Argento
Sarah -
Jimmy Bennett
Young Jeremiah -
Dylan Sprouse
Older Jeremiah -
Cole Sprouse
Older Jeremiah -
Peter Fonda
Grandfather -
Ben Foster
Fleshy Boy -
Ornella Muti
Grandmother -
Kip Pardue
Luther -
Michael Pitt
Buddy -
Jeremy Renner
Emerson -
John Robinson (IX)
Aaron -
Marilyn Manson
Jackson -
Jeremy Sisto
Chester -
Matt Schulze
Kenny -
Lydia Lunch
Social Worker -
Winona Ryder
Psychologist
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (51) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (20) | Rotten (29) | DVD (9)
Reeks of a project desperate for edgy credibility.
Top CriticArgento's film is arguably exploitative, but its real-life horrors are effectively authentic.
Now the fabricated story of a boyhood that included abandonment, rape and near constant fear and humiliation is a movie. The result is unwatchable.
Vile beyond redemption.
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.
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.
Marks [Asia Argento] as a far more adventurous and even risk-addicted filmmaker than her famous father Dario.
[The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things] has a deceptively desultory structure where no moral system or 'new daddy' seems to hold much water upon introduction, but each accumulates ideas which make an atavistic reappearance at the most inopportune of tim
The subject matter might be quite disturbing to some, but for those who don't mind a little child-rape with their crack-smoking, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is well worth a look.
To appreciate or even tolerate the film, you must separate yourself from the characters and the material. What's unfortunate is that the movie is too well made to let you do just that.
... shapeless, excessively lurid and often unpleasant, with Argento shamelessly vamping the white-trash junkie mother and truck-stop hooker.
JT LeRoy may be a scam, but Argento's scalding treatment of adults behaving badly is as real as cold French fries in a West Virginia truck stop.
Trying a bit too hard to be a modern cult classic, but it's clear that Argento's heart is in the right place.
I don't know if the movie follows the book closely, but if it does, you kind of have to wonder how Leroy or Albert or whoever it was made such a splash in the first place.
[H]as a sucker-punch power more potent that what most movies specifically designed as 'horror' can muster...
[Argento's] fast-moving, devil-may-care filmmaking keeps The Heart Is Deceitful dangling just above its relentlessly harrowing subject matter.
The story conveys so much emotion that I found myself wanting to yell at the screen, "Leave that boy alone!"
Argento has made a ferocious film including her own committed performance, but like her character, she loses control in the final goings.
Audience Reviews for The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things yet.
Latest News on The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
March 2, 2006:
Weinsteins Set To Make "Deceitful" Author J.T. LeRoy BiopicThere's almost a week to go before Asia Argento's "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All...
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Trailer for new Coen Bros movie
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 25
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 6
- In Pictures: The Cars of Fast & Furious 0
- Digital Multiplex: Warm Bodies and Aftershock 8
- Discover the Best-Reviewed Films in Summer Movie Scorecard 2013 0
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: The Last Stand and Side Effects 17
Top Headlines
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
-
10 Things You (Probably) Don't Know About the Hangover Movies
1
-
Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan, and David S. Goyer Talk Man of Steel
0
-
New Transporter Trilogy in the Works
0
-
Richard Linklater Plans "Spiritual Sequel" to Dazed and Confused
0
-
King of Kong Filmmaker Seeks Funding for Lost Limb Documentary
0
-
Which Film Franchise Has Been the Best for Female Characters?
6
Fresh Links
Featured
Star Trek Movies Ranked
HitFix offers their own take on the worst-to-best of the Enterprise crew's cinematic adventures.
Top 10 Star Trek Villains
Rolling Stone unveils the Enterprise's most irksome adversaries.
Celebrity Yearkbook Flashback
We'll bet you never realized how many stars were cheerleaders and high school athletes!
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Weirdest Movie Siblings
From Twins to The Royal Tenenbaums, Moviefone explores cinema's oddest siblings.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
