The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things
Palm Pictures | Release Date: March 10, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
27
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
3
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film ThreatGreg Bellavia
Not a film for everyone. If you are squeamish about children being placed in danger then do not see this film. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
The Heart Is Deceitful has a daring that's hard to dismiss, even when it only amounts to Argento shamelessly getting off on human rot. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
This is an unpleasant film, but Argento, whose bloodline positively seethes with unpleasantness, is, in her own right, a master cinematic stylist of the first order. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Given Argento's willingness to attempt the controversial book at all, she pulls a surprising number of punches. What at first appears to go too far in reality doesn't go far enough: Argento doesn't even broach the subject of child prostitution. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
My two-star rating represents a compromise between admiration and horror. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
The results are shapeless, excessively lurid and often unpleasant, with Argento shamelessly vamping the white-trash junkie mother and truck-stop hooker. She apparently forgot whose story she was telling. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneJessica Reaves
There is some directorial skill here--Argento should be congratulated for a few interesting storytelling choices--but the end result feels grimy and strangely pathetic. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Asia Argento is not what I would call a good actress, but she's a prime specimen of train-wreck sexuality: a debauched Eurotrash starlet who oozes punk cred more than she does talent. It's not too hard to see why she wanted to write, direct, and star in The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. Read full review
30
VarietyDavid Rooney
Though it's decidedly for perverse palates, some kind of cult audience seems assured for this one-note onslaught, which exercises a bizarre fascination despite its excesses. Read full review
30
Village VoiceRob Nelson
Whatever her limitations, Argento the actor makes certain that Argento the director doesn't lack for "action"--and that the audience doesn't lack for pain. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
The performances by all three children are scarily convincing. Still, 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. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
An almost comically lurid tale of a little boy abused by his malignant hooker mother, malignant fundamentalist grandfather, and malignant surrogate dads. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
This is an execrable movie depicting the improbable events in the life of a young boy being intermittently raised by his crackhead, highway-hookin' mom (actress-director Asia Argento, with a face that makes Courtney Love's mug shot look glamorous), her plumb-nuts evangelical parents and a cartoonishly incompetent West Virginia social system. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
Watchable in a train-wreck kind of way, but you'll probably want to take a shower afterwards. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleTamara Straus
Unwatchable. Read full review
20
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The whole enterprise heaves and strains with a sadistic overkill that even Dario might find too rich. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
A degraded and degrading film, of interest only because it's symptomatic of so much that's wrong with the drearily repetitive tabloid mentality that has infected not just the news media, but the whole culture industry. Read full review
20
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
The tale grows only more toxic with time. Read full review
12
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The Heart Is Deceitful wants to cauterize us into feeling something -- anything -- but it's far too heartless to know what. Read full review
10
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The movie is terrible, but made with verve and sincerity, all of it pointed in the wrong direction. Read full review
0
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
Inspirationally impaired and dramatically retarded. Read full review
0
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Viewer discretion is advised, if only because it's well-nigh unwatchable. Read full review
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