Heart (1999) Reviews

• A Frightening Thriller About Obsession

  claudio_carvalho2004-04-25

  In England, Gary Ellis (Christopher Exxleston) is a very insecure and jealous pilot, who owns an airplane. He loves his wife Tess Ellis (Kate Hardie), but maybe because of his physical condition, she cheats him with the writer and her colleague Alex Madden (Rhys Ifans). One day, after his wife has had sex with Alex, Gary has a heart attack. Meanwhile, a seventeen years old man has a fatal accident with his motorcycle, and Gary receives his heart, through a successful operation. Gary decides to look for the donator's mother, Maria Ann McCardle (Saskia Reeves), a very religious woman and she becomes obsessed for Gary. The explosive combination of jealousy, affair and obsession leads the quartet to a tragic end. This movie is a really frightening thriller about obsession. The screenplay is very tight, the direction is very sharp, the atmosphere is scary and the four lead actors and actresses have really a great performance. It works perfectly on DVD. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): Not Available – I Saw It in an Imported DVD

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• A powerful story of lust and obsession

  cj-311999-05-12

  The only way to see this film is on the big screen. It's dark, menacing, disturbing but has some moments of great power punctuated with lighter scenes of typical McGovern dialogue. The acting is first class as is the subtle direction. You may need a cast iron stomach for some of the sequences, especially at the end which is pretty shocking. Not exactly a deep movie, but a good watch none the less.

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• The ending was borrowed...

  dbdumonteil2003-07-27

  ...from William Irish's (aka Cornell Woolrich) "the bride wore black" which François Truffaut adapted for the screen in 1968.What remains is more Ruth Rendell style.Although full of implausibilities and plot holes,it's an entertaining thriller which smartly uses old songs such as "anyone who has a heart" or "this heart of mine".A lot of sex and violence (and surgery) and not enough humor.But the plot is original enough to sustain interest till the end ,even if this end is "déjà vu".

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• A real thriller from the heart...

  Mikew30012002-12-03

  What a witty and brilliant British thriller. A mother is losing her son who died in a motorcycle accident. His heart is tranplanted into the body of a young man who has suffered from a heart attack. His wife is seeking love and satisfaction with another guy. And the mother is falling in love with the husband who owns the only remaining sign of life of her beloved son, his heart... this all leads to a fatal menage-a-quatre with a deadly end for nearly everybody. This film is really heart-grabbing and a perfect mixture of some hopeless love affairs, a psycho thriller, lots of good acting (especially by Sakia Reeves who plays the despaired mother and Rhys Ifans as arrogant TV manager) and some really witty metaphors about the often used topic "heart". Love songs, quotes, heart beats, heart attacks, etc. - you've never seen so many references to the love symbol "heart" in a movie. At the end of the film, you see a shocking scene of the bloodstained mother walking around with a human heart in a bag... the (often heart-related) sound track songs are also very suitable, and after watching this movie you will never see all those "heartache love story" cliches the same way!

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• Extremes

  titus7_2000-08-20

  "Heart" is an engrossing study of extremes.This film takes us on an extremely profound journey of obsessions,manifested in four characters. Maria,the mother grieving over the loss of her son.Gary,the husband tormented by his wife's infidelity.Tess,the unfaithful wife & Alex,the lover. Each characters arch,is the fact that they are so human that it is easy to lose yourself in each characters personal journey.The plot itself is perfectly structered to allow the story to unfold itself. One of the best Brittish films I have seen in years.

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