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DramaYear2005Duration1h 37mIMDb6.2

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Drama

Seven-year-old Jeremiah is pulled from his foster home and thrown into a troubled life on the road with his teenage mother, Sarah.

Trailer

Cast

Asia Argento

Director

Asia Argento

Sarah

Dylan Sprouse

Older Jeremiah

Cole Sprouse

Older Jeremiah

Jimmy Bennett

Young Jeremiah

Kara Kemp

Social Worker #1

Brent Almond

Cop #1

David Dwyer

Cop #2

Kip Pardue

Luther

Jeremy Renner

Emerson

David Brian Alley

Doctor

Lydia Lunch

Social Worker #2

Ornella Muti

Grandmother

Peter Fonda

Grandfather

John Robinson

Aaron

LM

Lindy Maguire

Girl

Ben Foster

Fleshy Boy

Matt Schulze

Kenny

Marilyn Manson

Jackson

Laura Albert

Writer

Asia Argento

Writer

Alessandro Magania

Writer

Comments

9 Comments

Baby timaMay 18, 2023

uSBAHLENov 16, 2022

I truly appreciate indie films... but this movie was nothing but pure trash. I cannot fathom how somebody could find this tasteful, entertaining, or anything other than awful. There is no need to portray horrible themes like this on film (without being convicted of a crime), and I can't IMAGINE what kind of parents would allow their children to act in such a monstrosity. I grew up exposed to things similar to the film (in particular drug use and abandonment), and I say with conviction that there was nothing entertaining about this movie. We all know stuff like this happens, so there is no need to be made aware of it by a movie. Why would somebody want to watch a scene (or TWO as we get here) of a male child being raped by an adult male??? It's absolutely disgusting... everything about this film was the epitome of what is wrong with Hollywood.

fausia PaulinoNov 16, 2022

But the strong performances all around and the great settings really made an impression on me. I thought the editing was exceptionally done. One thing that did bother me was the lighting there was almost a pallor over the film, like it was from the 1970s. Was that the projector or did everyone else notice that? I would recommend this film. I enjoyed the cameos by Peter Fonda, Marilyn Manson and Winona Ryder. The real reason I went to see this is because I've always loved Leroy's short stories and this movie was a somewhat faithful blending of his literary vision and his overall message to his readers. Life is complicated and the choices we make aren't guaranteed to get us anything.

Wilfried Nov 16, 2022

Interesting premise (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas meets Mary Poppins!), intriguing performances (over the top exploitation of insane plot points), and perceptive direction (occasional drug-induced editing fluidity) do not a good movie make. The harrowing, gritty chronicles of child abuse start off believable enough, but quickly for me devolved into a shallow montage of misery that trampled it's overall impact. While I admire Argento for tackling the material and attempting to remain as faithful to the spirit of the book as possible, she seems way over her head here in a film that just takes us down a deep, dark road with no real reason to feel or care why. Despite having an obvious affinity with the source, Argento fails to imbue any of these characters with any sense of reality, instead insisting on just trudging out nightmare after nightmare of caricature decay, hoping the sometimes potent imagery will perhaps paint a larger picture then what the actual material here is doing.

RugieBella❤️Nov 16, 2022

I'd been wanting to see this movie ever since I'd heard about it. I didn't manage to catch it at the cinema, it had a very limited release, but wow, it's worth waiting for. Based on the book by JT Leroy, which is in turn based on his early life, and directed by and starring Asia Argento, this book charts the early years of Jeremiah, a child taken back from his foster parents by his mother, and dragged around from seedy motel to violent relationship and back again. He ends up with his fanatically religious grandparents for a while, which is little better, before being taken away by his mother again. I was bowled over by the sheer quality of the acting, the direction, the cinematography, everything. It's a shocking, painful film, but it has a strange beauty. I was expecting it to be hard to watch, but the film just flew by. Really worth seeing if you fancy something different.

Tik TokerNov 16, 2022

Downright depressing. I watch films to escape or to see the joyousness of life - basically this is about child abuse. We all know what that is - and the adults who do it are downright ILL. For that reason, this film is brilliant and depicts the mental illness in adults very well - and their inability to connect with their own compassion and understanding. Makes you realise that just because a person can have a child, doesn't mean they are a parent. Throws up the whole notion of family and how damaging it is for some people. If anything this film could be used to force EVERYONE to take a parenting course and to be observed and examined in the action of parenting. It was realistic - but sad, depressing and well, if you are in the mood of getting depressed, watch this one. I was really wanting to see what the kid turned into as an adult. Just another junkie?? It leaves you dissatisfied completely in that respect.

MinnieDlaminiNov 16, 2022

Jeremiah is a seven-year-old boy torn away from his loving foster family to be forcibly reunited with his selfishly drug-addled mother Sarah played by Asia Argento.Jeremiah is fed cold Spaghetti-Os and given baby toys and has to endure an endless heaping of verbal,physical,emotional and sexual assaults from not just his mother,but also her numerous male companions."The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" is a depressing adaptation of a book written by mysterious writer JT LeRoy.This is an ugly and brutal film that sometimes plays like the bone-chilling documentary.The cinematography is stylish,the direction by Asia Argento is excellent and there are some truly disturbing and heartbreaking scenes of child abuse.Overall,this is a sickening,utterly relentless portrait of abuse and mental illness that I strongly recommend for anyone brave enough to watch.

Belle_by92🌺🌹❤️Nov 16, 2022

I saw this film yesterday and i was genuinely impressed. I haven't read the source stories so I can't comment on it as an adaptation, but cinematically it's a success. It deals with horrific events without glamour or lust. The more harrowing scenes are not graphic, however I was still shocked. This probably has more to do with my responces to the situations rather than any bloodlust on the directors part. The three child actors who play Jeremiah all give excellent performances, showing his growth from wide-eyed innocent to sexually confused/ing teenager. I think this is Asia Argento's second film, but i felt it to be a mature work(whoever your dad is). Watching I was aware that is was quite segmented, it was also shot and edited like a music video (bleached skies and time lapse galore). The various cameos are good value. I was thoroughly moved by this film and hope it is successful.

NjandehNov 16, 2022

I'll be honest, this film is severely depressing, so if you're having a bad day you might end up on the brink of suicide after viewing this sordid tale. Basically, there's this little innocent kid right... and then he gets the sh*t abused out of him after being returned to his crazy birth mother (from foster care). Asia Argento (the director and lead actress) must have had a hard time directing in this and playing a screwball mother at the same time - so credit to her for making it watchable. However, I must point out that there are many disturbing scenes, the worst of which is where the little kid gets ass-raped and needs his ass stitched back together, OK it doesn't show it graphically, but still... sickening. Another bad one is where the boy dresses like a girl to copy his mum and tries to satisfy a grown man (Manson no less). Only watch this is you want to see how f*cked up life can be, oh and also to see Marilyn Manson without make up.. thats it.

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