The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
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| The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things | |
|---|---|
 The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things film poster |
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| Directed by | Asia Argento |
| Produced by | Chris Hanley, Ryan R. Johnson, etc |
| Written by | Stories: JT LeRoy Screenplay: Asia Argento Alessandro Magania |
| Starring | Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse |
| Distributed by | Palm Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 15, 2004 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things is a 2004 film directed by and starring Asia Argento. It is based on JT LeRoy's collection of short stories of the same name, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. The film received a limited release in North American theatres on March 10, 2006.
The title is taken from the King James Version of the Bible, Book of Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9.
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[edit] Plot
The film revolves around a tattered relationship between a crazy mother and son, with only love connecting them. 5 year old Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) meets his mother for the first time and is taken away from his comfortable foster home. At the house, Jeremiah attempts to run away while his mother is sleeping. He reaches the police station, only to have his mother come and pick him up. She talks to Jeremiah and says she is his mother.
At first Jeremiah doesn't believe that Sarah (Asia Argento) is his mom, but she explains that "those damn social workers" thought it was better if he was fostered. She says that she fought very hard to get him back, and he better start showing respect to her. Thus begins the abused life of Jeremiah. Jeremiah witnesses things that should not be exposed to a child his age (drinking, smoking, prostitution, strippers, drugs, etc.) and begins to accept it, due to his mother's influence. After three years of this life, Sarah ditches her boyfriend, and Jeremiah is left alone in the car.
A hospital finds and keeps him for a short period of time before his grandmother picks him up. Jeremiah's grandparents are very religious and believe that a bad deed deserves harsh punishment. Three years later, the 11 year old Jeremiah (played by identical twins Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) preaches on the streets. He suddenly hears the voice of his mother, who has returned to reclaim him.
Jeremiah is again re-exposed to his mother's lifestyle. Because of this, Jeremiah is easily tricked by his mother into crossdressing so he can be her "little sister" at a strip club. There, Jeremiah discovers the true nature of a strip club. However, the police nearly arrest everyone in it, and at a rundown motel Sarah is furious with Jeremiah and throws him out of the room. Later, they are seen in a shack where the basement is a meth lab. When his parents leave, Jeremiah runs there out of curiosity. When his friend Buddy comes down, he makes him promise that he won't tell Sarah. However, as Jeremiah is watching cartoons, Sarah and her husband become extremely upset with Buddy. Jeremiah and Sarah blow up the shack and drive away. They dye their hair black as a disguise from the police.
After a failed attempt to rob a grocery store, Sarah and Jeremiah run into an alley where Sarah cries. Jeremiah promises that he will protect her. Hungry, Jeremiah can now only get food from the garbage can. His mother teases him in the car, convincing him that he was poisoned. Jeremiah tearfully pleads for an antidote (which in reality is the poison), and Sarah gives it to him. Jeremiah drinks it greedily and vomits. He is ejected into the parking lot and Sarah runs off.
The next morning, Jeremiah drinks the antidote again, but eventually realizes what it is. Because his vision is foggy, he mistakes a woman for his mother. He stumbles into the store and to the ordering desk, yelling that it was poison and fainting.
Jeremiah wakes up in the hospital, with his grandmother beside him. She is disappointed that he only managed to stay out of hospital for 6 months. Sarah is seen running naked and caught by the ambulance, to be taken for mental health treatment. Jeremiah hears that his mother escaped, and falls asleep. At night, Sarah goes into the patient's room and takes out his IV while his grandmother is asleep. She clutches her son, both only in hospital clothes. The ending scene is of Sarah and Jeremiah driving away, and the viewers are left to wonder what is next for Jeremiah.
[edit] Direction
The film is heavily influenced by the work of director Harmony Korine. One could say that Korine's Gummo created a sort of new white trash exploitation film genre with which Heart is Deceitful shares many themes. The ice skater on the television set is a direct reference to Korine's film Julien Donkey-Boy.
[edit] DVD controversy
It has been confirmed by director Asia Argento and distribution company, Palm Pictures, that the Region 1 edition of the DVD lacks an approximate five minutes of footage (predominantly the meth lab explosion [1]) due to an authoring error during mass production. For those that have purchased the Region 1 DVD, they may contact Palm Pictures directly and a replacement disc, with all scenes intact, will be offered in exchange.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Asia Argento | Sarah |
| Jimmy Bennett | Young Jeremiah |
| Dylan Sprouse | Older Jeremiah |
| Cole Sprouse | Older Jeremiah |
| Peter Fonda | Grandfather |
| Ben Foster | Fleshy Boy |
| Marilyn Manson | Jackson |
| Ornella Muti | Grandmother |
| Kip Pardue | Luther |
| Michael Pitt | Buddy |
| Jeremy Renner | Emerson |
| John Robinson | Aaron |
| Jeremy Sisto | Chester |
| Winona Ryder | Psychologist |
[edit] See also
- Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction
- Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in films
- Also a quote from the Christian Bible, Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?"
