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Map of the Human Heart Photos

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Movie Info

In an Arctic village in 1931, British mapmaker Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin) selects 12-year-old Eskimo Avik (Robert Joamie) as his guide. When the boy contracts tuberculosis, Walter flies him to a Montreal hospital, where Avik meets Albertine (Annie Galipeau) and is infatuated. A decade later, a grown Avik (Jason Scott Lee) encounters Albertine (Anne Parillaud) again in London, where he's serving as a British combat pilot. Despite her relationship with Walter, she and Avik begin an affair.

Rating:

R
Genre:

romance
Original Language:

English
Director:

Vincent Ward
Producer:

Tim Bevan
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 23, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA):

$2.4M
Runtime:

1h 46m

Cast & Crew

Jason Scott Lee
Avik

Anne Parillaud
Albertine

Patrick Bergin
Walter Russell

Robert Joamie
Young Avik

Annie Galipeau
Young Albertine

John Cusack
The Mapmaker

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News & Interviews for Map of the Human Heart

Weekly Ketchup: More "Transformers" Pics, "Casino Royale" Reactions, Jim Carreys Upcoming Flick, And More!

Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival 2005

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Critic Reviews for Map of the Human Heart

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (5)

This private epic by the New Zealand director Vincent Ward moves across continents, languages, and elements - from pack ice to hellfire and back again.

December 21, 2020 | Full Review…

Anthony Lane
New Yorker
Even by Mr. Ward's own high standards in the area of idiosyncrasy, this is a daringly peculiar tale.

May 20, 2003 | Rating: 3/5

Janet Maslin
New York Times
Despite its historical surrounding and a few stabs at thematic depth, Map of the Human Heart has all the flavor and plot complexity of a Harlequin romance.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…

James Berardinelli
ReelViews
The best movies seem to reinvent themselves as they move along, not drawing from worn-out sources, and Map of the Human Heart is one of the year's best films.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review…

Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
A film of incantatory intensity and moment by a prodigiously gifted young filmmaker.

January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Map of the Human Heart is one of those rare films that illuminates a single human story, and does it so well that you're hardly aware you're watching a movie.

January 1, 2000 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
Mixing up actors and locations from all over the map, the film seems strained by the demands of international coproduction.

October 11, 2019 | Full Review…

Brian D. Johnson
Maclean's Magazine
New Zealander Vincent Ward's Map of the Human Heart spans half the century and most of the world, from 1931 to 1966, the Arctic to England, telling an unlikely story with visionary verve.

November 29, 2017 | Full Review…

Quentin Curtis
Independent on Sunday
Quote not available.

May 7, 2007 | Rating: 2/5

Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com
As directed and co-written by Vincent Ward, this romantic drama tries to say something poignant about a doomed interracial love and the fateful nature of human encounters, but everything about it is excessive.

December 26, 2006 | Rating: B- | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Quote not available.

June 21, 2005 | Rating: 4/5

Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
Quote not available.

August 26, 2004 | Rating: 4/5

Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

View All Critic Reviews (23)

Audience Reviews for Map of the Human Heart

Apr 23, 2012

Nice. Moving. Touching...even though the style of this movie definitely shows its age. Much has happened in the last 20 yrs to improve productions. To see this movie made again, with todays expertise, would be really fantastic. FYI: John Cusack is in this for less than 5 min...

Cynthia S Super Reviewer
Sep 11, 2010

The movie starts off very well with interesting relationships between Inuit, European and other Meso-American peoples and then switches gears into a sweeping romance. Jason Scott Lee really steps up to and fills his role as an Inuit who is drawn into a world he is unfamiliar with. By the time the film gets to WWII it might as well be Pearl Harbor w/ burning models instead of god CGI. As a note Cusack has a 5 Minute role sitting at a table looking at a map listening to Lee retell his story

Bill C Super Reviewer
Jan 29, 2007

Average film narrative about an Inuit Eskimo's life and his relationship with a half-breed Indian girl that looks like its epic story.

Dean M Super Reviewer

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Map of the Human Heart Quotes

Avik:

It's all there in the maps. Sometimes all they tell you is that you're lost.

Avik:	Why do you want to bomb Dresden?
Walter Russell:	There's a monster in a room. Once that room was filled with everything that was valuable to him. His train sets, his puppet theatre, his model planes. They're all broken now. All that's left untouched is his beautiful collection of Dresden China. You go into that room, you smash all his crockery, and you have broken his spirit.

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