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The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Behind the greatest hoax of our time is the heartbreaking story that started it all.

2004 · 1h 38m · R Drama
Directed by Asia Argento

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Overview

Young Jeremiah lives in a stable environment with loving foster parents until the day his troubled mother, Sarah, returns to claim him. Jeremiah becomes swept up in his mother's dangerous world of drugs, seedy hotels, strip joints and revolving lovers. Salvation comes in the form of the boy's ultrareligious grandparents, but soon Jeremiah's mother returns. Maternal love binds the pair together on the road until Sarah's desperate and depraved lifestyle finally consumes her.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
41%
Tomatometer
Rotten

Reeks of a project desperate for edgy credibility.

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Fresh

Argento's film is arguably exploitative, but its real-life horrors are effectively authentic.

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
Rotten

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

Tamara Straus, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten

Vile beyond redemption.

Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Rotten

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.

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times

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