The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things

Seven-year-old Jeremiah lived a calm, comfortable life in the care of a loving foster home until the day his young mother Sarah (Argento) came to take him against his will into her reckless life of turmoil and depravity, between desolate truck-stops, flea bag motels, strip joints, drug den and deadbeat surrogate dads until he finds himself in the custody of his ultra-religious grandparents. Having adapted to his new life as a Christian fundamentalist, Sarah returns to claim her son. Bound by a love only a mother and son could have for each other, Sarah pulls Jeremiah further and further into her dementia. When Sarah is finally and wholly consumed by drugs, prostitution and violence, Jeremiah is forced into a desperate struggle to survive the madness of his surroundings.

Asia Argento's adaptation of JT Leroy's short story collection, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, still has the heartbreaking urgency of a tale about child abuse, regardless of Leroy's proven fraudulent identity. Weaving plots together from Leroy's two books, Sarah, and The Heart Is Deceitful, Argento relays the history of orphaned Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett/Cole Sprouse), whose mother Sarah (Asia Argento) abandons him as a baby to work as a truck-stop lot lizard for her methamphetamine habit. Sarah tears Jeremiah away from a stable foster home to pathetically attempt mothering her seven-year old son. Jeremiah instantly grows up in strip clubs, drug dealers' homes, big rigs, and in the hot rod that he and his mother call home. His sadomasochistic sexual psychology also develops prematurely, informed by men who rape and beat him, and a mother whose work as a hooker requires Jeremiah's dressing up as a girl to pass as her younger sister. Enter a born again, psychotically zealous Grandfather (Peter Fonda) who takes temporary custody of Jeremiah, and the viewer begins to understand Sarah's severe rebelliousness, sensing that the punk, 23-year old prostitute may be a better parent for Jeremiah, simply because she loves him. Shot by Eric Alan Edwards (Kids, My Own Private Idaho), and with a soundtrack including Sonic Youth, Subhumans, Billy Corgan, and Hasil Adkins, the film has a raunchy, Southern appeal similar to that of Leroy's books. Cameos appearances by Winona Ryder and Marilyn Manson add rock star power. Argento keeps it sexy, as this is as much a story of the mother-child bond as it is about the malformation of a boy's sexual identity. True or not, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is a sincere yet stylized rendition of a terribly sad story. --Trinie Dalton

Didn't work ....must of been too used up... please send another or refund me

Well it didnt make me say "OMG" but it was goooood. The acting was okay. but i love marilyn manson so i got it. :)

Nothing turns me off like finding out that a book which is marketed as a "true story"-- isn't.

Forget it. If you want to read a NOVEL about horror, corruption and brutality that's written by a truly talented writer, let me recommend Graham Greene's "The Comedians." If on the other hand you don't mind being played for a sucker, read and enjoy this rubbish.

I stumbled upon this movie 4 days ago. I found this under movies that Marilyn Manson was in, so I clicked on it and the synopsis. It sounded like it had a really good plot, so I ordered it. It was a really good and interesting movie that dealt with drug addiction, child abuse, and child rape! I probably wouldn't recommend that you watch this with your parents. A drug-addict/hooker named Sarah takes her son, Jeremiah back, but he doesn't like her, so he runs away. Sarah finds him and gets with an abusive guy that rapes and beats Jeremiah. Jeremiah is sent to live with Sarah's God-obsessed parents. After three years, Sarah is back and takes Jeremiah with her again. Sarah soon realizes that if she is going to keep her men, then she cannot say Jeremiah is her son, so she persuades him to cross dressing. (Don't think I'm gay, but I honestly think Jeremiah looked extremely sexy dressed as a girl!) It's too bad that Marilyn Manson only had a 5 minute cameo, because he was really good. Sarah and Jeremiah go into hiding because she thinks everyone is after them. She makes him think that certain foods are poisoned and makes him drink ipecac. Asia Argento, and the Sprouse brothers did an awesome job. Asia also did a great job at directing. If you love child abuse, drugs, and cross dressing kids, you'll love THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS!!!

This movie is really disturbing, and really sad. You feel for the boy. The movie drifts off a bit. And you totaly hate the mother for her behavior/ choices she makes through out the film.