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The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Drama · 2004

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.

Movie details

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

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

2004 Drama 1h 38m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

5.8 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Asia Argento

Written by

Asia Argento · Alessandro Magania

Asia Argento

Asia Argento

Sarah

Jimmy Bennett

Jimmy Bennett

Young Jeremiah

Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner

Emerson

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder

Psychologist

Ornella Muti

Ornella Muti

Grandmother

Peter Fonda

Peter Fonda

Grandfather

Dylan Sprouse

Dylan Sprouse

Older Jeremiah

Court is in session

Put The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.