OTHER TITLES: LA LIVRE DE JEREMIE (title in France THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH); LIVING IN SICKNESS, SWALLOWING BITTERNESS aka SARA-INORI (Japan); A sz¨ªv csalfa v¨¢gyai (Hungarian for THE DECEIT OF DESIRE); Srdce je zrádná devka (Czech title: YOUR HEART IS MINE); Petollinen on ihmissydän (Finnish title for TO BE DECEITFUL IS TO DEVOUR); Maldito Coração (title in Brasil CURSED HEART); Ingannevole è il cuore più di ogni cosa (Italian for THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS)
Rated R for violence, drug use, scenes of child abuse and rape, brief sexuality, and profanity
A little bit of narration, or perhaps even showing exerpts of the book before certain scenes (like they did at the end credits) would have assisted anyone who hadn't yet read the book by JT LeRoy to understand the flow and rhythm of the film. Some people, if they haven't read the book, may not get this film at all.
It is an admirable adaptation of LeRoy's work, but not a perfect one. I first want to clear up that I don't care whether or not LeRoy is real. The woman who penned the books bearing this name is immensely talented, with an understanding of human nature, why people hurt one another to feed needs they can't even name. The book clearly illustrated Sarah's need to hurt her son and allow others to hurt him, because she was so deeply damaged herself. Her self destruction, her psychosis, her history with her fanatically religious family, were all beautifully described in the novel. That this book turned out to be fiction instead of a memoir is an even greater phenomenon to me, because if it would have been fact, it wouldn't have been anything other than a retelling.
Director Asia Argento is sincere in her efforts to capture the harrowing stories and the dark, morbid spirit of the book, and sometimes she is completely successful. The film has a very strong and promising start, with Argento as Sarah, the 23 year old who wins back the custody of her son, Jeremiah (played at first by talented young Jimmy Bennett). The first 45 mins. of the film almost verbatim to the book, including the sheriff's office scene, the beating scene with Luther (Kip Pardue), the first rape (Jeremy Renner's performance is excellent), and the scene with Winona Ryder. The sequence involving Jeremiah's grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti) is pretty decent, although it seemed somewhat abbreviated, failing to include that Jeremiah was beaten severely and often in the 2 years he spent in their home.
After this point, and the role of Jeremiah is assumed by twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse, who also are very good young actors, but some of the stories I was so familiar with were either edited (apparently someone thought the Milkshake character, a 12 year old lot lizard, would be too offensive!), or just seemed rushed (for example, the sequence involving Jeremiah venturing into Chester's (Jeremy Sisto) methlab, and Jeremiah's friendship with the somewhat mentally slow character Buddy (Michael Pitt) wasn't touched upon). The sequence involving Jeremiah seducing Jackson (Marilyn Manson) especially needed to be nurtured in order not to be thought of as confusing or just plain exploitative to some viewers, though it must be said that Argento handles this particular scene very tastefully, with no graphic rape or blood on screen.
Without narration or explanation, the characters of Sarah and Jeremiah seem incompletely presented. Why did Sarah seem to wish that Jeremiah had been born a girl instead? This is explained in depth in the book. In the film, we are never told about the hatred Jeremiah develops for his own sexual identity due to rape and abuse by his mother's husbands/boyfriends and by Sarah herself, and about how he becomes addicted to pain, believing it's the only way to feel loved, and ties it all in with the self-loathing.
After a very good start, the film suddenly seems almost too erratically paced and edited for the viewer to retain a strong emotional closeness or empathy, or simply, the film focuses too much on the physical scenes, the graphic turmoil, and not enough on the inner child being slowly destroyed, and the tortured mother whose childhood abuse was just as horrific as the son's. Asia Argento's acting is superb, without a doubt, and her desire to capture the volatile, Jeckel and Hyde-ish Sarah is sincere, but without an explanation of Sarah's background, the character comes off as one dimensional, just a mean monster. Without any real insight into Jeremiah, the boy becomes just a victim of abuse. The strength of spirit, so evident in the book, the inner voice, just doesn't seem to be there as tangibly as it should be, until toward the end, when Jeremiah is forced, by Sarah's increasing state of insanity, to switch roles with her and become the parent, the caretaker. Here is where Jeremiah's strength of mind seems to be undaunted.
CAUTION: MAJOR SPOILER PROBABLE
I was disappointed that the story METEORS was not included in this filmed adaptation, and I figured the ending of the film, with Sarah and Jeremiah simply getting into the car once again and hitting the road, would feel incomplete. However, the ending of the book is far too tragic to fit a film, I was actually quite happy with the ending to this film. Because if I had to pick between 2 evils: Life with my crazed mother who loves me in her dysfunctional way, or life with those horrific grandparents who are cold as ice and still beat on me, I'd chose the first option.
I would say that although it lacked a lot of what made the books so compelling, it's still a heart-wrenching film, and Argento, having read the book herself, created this film out of an honest love for the material.
Back to THE HEART IS DECEITFUL...
Back to SISTO ACT
Email
THE HEART IS DECEITFUL
