User reviews

Judging by the comments of previous reviewers, Saverio Costanzo's film has divided reviewers and audiences alike. Perhaps this is due to its combination of tones: the apparently artless beginning that does not prepare us in any way for the film's major issue, that of how to reconcile one's inner beliefs with the realities of bringing up a child. Or perhaps it's because of the desperate measures adopted by the child's grandmother (Roberta Maxwell) in an attempt to ensure the child's future welfare. Some have dismissed them as melodramatic: one wonders what they might do in a similar situation.

The main point at issue here is one of obsession: Mina (Alba Rohrwacher) believes that her newly-born son is somehow special and needs to be "protected" from supposedly corrupting influences such as doctors, red meat or sunlight. The fact that this results in the child's attenuated growth is a side-effect. Her husband Jude (Adam Driver) tries to make her see reason (as he perceives it), but fails to do so. Director Costanzo invites us to reflect on the morality of both protagonists - is one "right" and the other "wrong"? Or are there other issues involved here?

What gives the film its particular resonance is its style. Very little music appears on the soundtrack - except at the end; hence we as viewers are not guided into making a specific response to what we see. Fabio Cianchetti's camera is fond of consciously out-of-focus shots, transforming the characters into other-worldly beings rather than New Yorkers. This strategy reminds us quite powerfully of how anyone departing from ideological or social behavioral norms is invariably dismissed as "deviant." Sometimes this visual technique seems excessive - as for example, when Mina is shot in such a way as to emphasize a large head and skinny body - but we can understand the purpose behind it.

In this kind of film, it is difficult to maintain some sense of dramatic balance. All credit, then, to the three protagonists, whose performances seem inspired by the situations contained in the screenplay, and refrain from dramatic or gestural excesses.

Great acting, but for me it was difficult and painful to watch. The plot, combined with the way it was filmed, these weird angels, it was a bit too much.

In the beginning of this movie you get more or less the "romantic" story about how our two protagonists, Mina and Jude, got together, but things really start to get interesting when their child is on the way. During the pregnancy the viewer already experiences the opposite positions that each partner has about their baby. Mina, who is portrayed by and outstanding and excellent Alba Rohrwacher, has a rather extreme attitude towards modern medicine, nutrition and cleanness. Jude (Adam Driver) tries to be the supporting husband but after seeing that Mina's methods endanger their child, he is forced to act against his wife's will.

This movie has a very realistic tone to it. There isn't much music to be heard and the colors are kept quite cool as well. Already in the first scene of the movie, where the couple meets in the bathroom you experience an awkward feeling that didn't really let go of me throughout the whole film. Maybe that is because the actions of all three main characters (including Jude's mother who also distributes a lot to the plot of this movie) seem somehow relatable even though they are sometime quite drastic. Especially Mina is an interesting character. She has those really extreme obsessions but somehow you still can relate to her and she feels like a real person and in no way stereotypical crazy. On the other hand there is Jude who really loves his wife and tries everything to be supportive of her but at some point that can't continue and so he is more or less forced to act against her interests for the good of their child. As a viewer I could understand both characters very well and it left me kind of torn between whom to sympathize with.

All in all, it really is an enjoyable movie though it is more of a psychological drama than a thriller and my problem with it was that the plot got a bit boring in the middle part because the actions of the characters seem repetitive. Although the ending and the character portrayals were great it is not a must-watch and certainly not a movie for everyone.

While we patiently wait for Adam Driver to become a household name, there's plenty of big screen spoils from last year's film festivals to enjoy, including While We're Young and Hungry Hearts. It opens with a misleading, endearing and hilarious meet-cute where Driver and co-star Alba Rohrwacher first fall in love trapped in a bathroom with Driver's own stench. Perhaps sly foreshadowing that their story revolves around nutrition, I didn't expect the film to focus on the 'hungry' part of its 'hearts' while I prepared for something humorous and composed. It's none of those two. While it peaks in its opening minutes, that's not to say there isn't something of worth to follow. The idea of having the diet of a child being the source of conflict between a couple is unique in cinema, but a very real concern. It does paint Rohrwacher as too much of a villain at times but the duo's impeccable performances do their characters justice and it's often heartbreaking. It's such a shame that it's incompetently shot. I get the raw intimate aesthetic, but it feels like rehearsal footage, and when it's being creative with fish eye lenses to distort Rohrwacher's figure, it feels far too on-the-nose. The misguided style holds the film back, but the performances win out.

7/10

I have an impression that people disliking this movie just can't stand the harshness of real life or what it can be like. My life and my family life is warmth and mutual trust and understanding, however, I was on the verge of postnatal depression, so i can relate to this. I hate the way Mina reacts, though, but the actress's performance is amazing. I was so depressed when my first child was born - but I always blamed myself. it lasted just for a month or so and I was aware that I wasn't right - it was just mum's striving for perfection - but I can also relate to the fact that there are women who didn't have the support and who just have the wrong perception and this is what i liked about this movie - the reactions of all charters are so believable... Being a parent I felt this so deeply... Adam and Alba, and also Roberta were amazing in their parts. I like the way camera angle changes to show the state of mind of the characters.... The ending could have been just a little bit more elaborated....

The opening scene is funny and mortifying at the same time, giving a false sense of a under budgeted romantic comedy to the film, but then it gets darker. The awkwardly sweet duo become one, they fall in love and hit off. Step by step, things get serious and these lovebirds turn into an unnerving couple as the movie gets psychological and somber.

Originally - in the book - in Italy, the story was transposed to New York City because the Italian director thought that it belonged in there. I don't know if I agree completely but given what is depicted in the film I understand this choice.

Saverio Costanzo used tight shots and close ups to bring the intimacy needed for the story. As the story develops each scene gets a shade darker and the intimacy of the shots seem to illustrate Jude (Driver) and Mina (Rohrwacher)'s state of minds. It's subtle and masterfully crafted to bring you a place where you never thought you'd go. The chips fall into place and you realize what you're in for, Mina and Jude start to make sense and a chill crawls up your spine. The slight sense of dread takes over just enough to keep captivated, but not fully engaged to make you too uncomfortable and wary. If it was done any other way it would have probably been too hard to watch, instead, like a car crash you find yourself watching these people on their way down the rabbit hole.

@wornoutspines

"Hungry Hearts" starts out strongly. The opening few minutes is set in a bathroom in the basement of a Chinese restaurant. Mina and Jude (total strangers at the time) somehow get trapped in there together when the door gets jammed - just as he's rendered the bathroom - well - let's just say it didn't smell very fresh. It was actually a fun and humorous way to introduce the two protagonists of the movie. But it should be noted that the opening scene really is the only fun and humorous scene of an otherwise very heavy and even at times depressing movie. Which isn't to say that it wasn't good, but the opening few minutes doesn't really set us up for the rest of the film, at least in terms of its tone. It's also not really what I would call a thriller, even though it's billed as a thriller. A psychological drama - tense at times, perhaps - but it really doesn't have all that many thrills.

After the opening scene the movie settles down for a little while, basically showing us rather quickly the evolution of Mina and Jude's relationship. They sleep together, they fall in love, she gets pregnant, they get married, they have a baby boy. All that happens in rather quick succession, and it's after the birth of the baby that the movie develops its more tense atmosphere.

Basically, Mina and Jude disagree about how to raise a child. It seems to start when Mina is told by some sort of psychic that her child is "special - an "indigo baby" (some sort of silly new age idea that I had never heard of until I watched this.) Mina treats the baby strangely. She weans him very early, won't feed him any meat or protein, won't take him outside into the sunlight. It's all rather bizarre. Jude finally gets worried because the baby isn't growing. A doctor tells him the baby is undernourished, etc., etc. The two find themselves at odds over how to raise the child - which isn't all that unusual. Different parents have different parenting styles - but usually it's a conflict between the parents, with no real harm done to the child. But in this case, Mina is hurting the child. And she's doing damage to herself. She's a vegan, but more than that I thought there were suggestions that she had an eating disorder. There were references to her wasting away, and director Saverio Costanzo used some very effective camera angles that accentuated how thin she was, which suggested that she was mentally ill. Because this is billed as a thriller, you keep expecting that angle to become front and centre, but it really doesn't. There's some scenes where the suspense is built especially through the use of music - and you expect something to happen, but then it dissipates - until the end, when something shocking does indeed happen. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I did think it was pretty good.

Alba Rohrwacher was the actress who played Mina - and she was very good in the role; completely believable. Her accent at times made it hard to capture some of the dialogue completely, but she did a fine job, and - to me - her performance was the highlight of the movie. Adam Driver as Jude was probably more central to the story. Jude was torn between his love for Mina and his concern for his child. Driver didn't take anything away from the movie, but I didn't think he nailed his part as well as Rohrwacher did hers.

If you're expecting a classic type of thriller, this will probably disappoint you. But it's not a bad movie. It's well acted and it raises some valid issues about different parenting styles - albeit taken to an extreme. (7/10)

It's hard to imagine what goes through people's heads dealing with mental illness but this dives head first into the empty pool & it's very realistic and nerve racking

I give this film a 7/10 for it's ability to generate psychosocial discussion regarding an important issue. Mental illness in expecting/new mothers is not a topic often tackled in cinema and I commend the director for taking this up. I guess the fact that I think Jude and his mother handle the Mina's ill health completely wrong is irrelevant. Many people would not handle such a stressful and emotive situation all that well. However, I am concerned that the film will leave too many viewers perceiving Mina to be the villain. I hope this is not the case but the film seemed to make concerted effort not to guide our emotions and sympathies in any particular direction. For me this meant that I was left with a cold and unsettled feeling at the end of the film. I'm not a person who wants or needs a Hollywood happy ending but I appreciate a film which has something to say/provides some wisdom or a lesson. This film does not provide this. It leaves us to make up our own minds regarding the ethical moral implications of the issues presented.

The movie started out promising with a "meet cute" in a toilet, but the purported "stink" of that opening scene was actually a metaphor for the entire film. Despite valiant efforts by the two leads, the script and direction were so far fetched and over the top that no amount of good acting could save this piece of schlock. Weird camera angles that come and go for no apparent reason, an absurd wedding montage accompanied by the entirety of "Flashdance", again for no apparent reason, a house in Westchester filled with deer heads, again for no apparent reason...and the list could go on for pages. Roberta Maxwell's performance is a hoot for all the wrong reasons...like she has watched too many demonic possession films. And, no, she is not demonically possessed in the movie. The use of horror movie sound effects and strings to underscore the supposed tension actually brought laughs from the audience. And this is not a funny movie. What this film was doing in the Tribeca Film Festival is beyond me; and, yes, I understand that it did well at Venice. But...ugh. I'm guessing we won't see this film released on these shores.

This is a brilliant, simple movie that sinks its claws into your chest midway and squeezes tight till the end. The story is original and very timely. I am not surprised it was a book first. It's not pap for the masses. No car chases. It has real danger, real horror, powerlessness, not knowing what to do, how to fix things. It has a real hero, a surprising one, and a tough, digestible, clear, honest ending. Impressive use of camera angles to distort weight perception and create the sense of claustrophobia in the characters' apartment. The acting is impeccable with the grandmother character as a superb standout. Interesting how it showed how difficult it is to take advice and put it into concrete action when one is caught up in a manipulative situation.

Hungry Hearts is a phrase play on words. It is a potent combination of words. The film showcases the blurred sense of what is conceived as normal in modern society. Normal as in interpersonal relationships, honesty, frankness, the depth of knowing one another, as well as in self awareness. The personal freedom, freedom of choices, what is considered to be an informed choice. How long can a partner respect the choices of the loved one? What is love and at what point does it start to turn into crippling obsession or mental illness. When the heart is hungry it clouds the senses. "Its a phase mum, it will pass." If you are in it you can't see the full spectrum of it. A spectator can. A wise grandmother whose heart is not hungry anymore, can feel the real responsibility of bringing up a child of a selfless point of you. It is not about you or your partner, it is about that new person that has been brought into this world hungry!

The subject of Hungry Hearts is an original and challenging one, and certainly not the usual kind of drama involving a couple that you might expect. Saverio Costanzo, the director of The Solitude of Prime numbers, clearly doesn't do the common subject matter in his films, even when working in America.

Even the manner in which Jude and Mina meet is far from common, and it's clearly not the most romantic of situations. Both are trapped within the small restroom of a Chinese restaurant in New York, where Jude has embarrassingly had a bad case of the runs. The two of them are not only unable to open the door but they can't even open a window for fresh air. Nonetheless, they become a couple, Mina gets pregnant and they get married. Jude is American and Mina is Italian, but their differences go deeper than that, and it's the birth of their child that brings them starkly to the surface.

Even before the baby is born, Mina is concerned about her pregnancy, not eating much and having nightmares. She consults a fortune-teller, develops strange ideas about the child and is determined to have a natural birth, involving hospitals and doctors as little as possible. When the baby is born, she becomes over-protective, refusing to let the baby breath the filthy air of NY city and unwilling even to let the baby take antibiotics for an infection. Adam and the doctor are concerned that the baby appears malnourished and isn't developing. Thereafter, a struggle develops between Jude and Mina to ensure that the baby doesn't come to any harm.

It's not a bitter struggle but a cautious one, where even the authorities are unwilling to intervene on such a sensitive issue. This is where Costanzo show his ability not to provide standard dramatic points or stray into melodrama, but rather explore the situation in a more balanced way in line with the nature of the main characters. It's not perfect however. The storytelling feels a little schematic (with Mina's premonitory nightmare and its realisation being just a little too neat), but it also feels patchy with a semi-improvised, handheld, indie, almost Dogme-like quality. Some high angle fish-eye views feel a little gratuitous as a means of presenting Mina 'distorted' perspective on reality. The performances are also variable, Driver not entirely convincing, Rohrwacher's English often difficult to make out.

On the other hand the emotional charge of the reality of the situation still comes across effectively without having to rely on glossy cinematography or a melodramatic score, and you really get a sense of the seriousness of what is at stake. Presenting a balanced view of an unbalanced situation is tricky, but Alba Rohrwacher also makes Mina more sympathetic than you might expect, the young woman tortured in her own mind rather than just being deluded and dangerous. It's typically well-played by Rohrwacher with intense interiority.

I love Adam River I enjoyed the story and I was so excited to see what's gonna happen I just felt something was off I don't exactly know what it is but there's something missing. Could be better

I'll admit, I was only interested in seeing this initally because I'm a huge Adam Driver fan. I knew nothing about the plot going in but found myself hooked on what I found to be a really stunning film.

At times the film almost feels like theatre, with some scenes being filmed in such a way that you feel like you're in the room with them. In a way it makes Jude and Mina's relationship feel all the more real; from their unlikely romantic start right through it's eventual unravelling. There are times in the film where Mina's presence almost evokes a sense of horror in the film, carefully crafted by the film's score.

Hungry Hearts perhaps finds its best quality in it's tonal shift from beginning to end, as well as the outstanding performances by both Adam and Alba, who give such an honesty to the characters that it's hard to feel as if you don't know them personally. I think the film does a great deal to question the moral stance of the viewer: each of the main characters makes decisions throughout the film that are questionable at best, but when put into context are almost justified by their personal idea of what is best for the baby. Almost.

Coming out of the film, it's hard not to imagine what might have happened if Mina's mental illness had been treated, and how that might have affected the films trajectory. Either way, I know Hungry Hearts will sit with me for a while.

Mina and Jude (Alba Rohrwacher and Adam Driver) fall in love almost instantly upon meeting under unusual circumstances in a restaurant. They get married and Mina falls pregnant. The pregnancy is a troubled one for Mina and after the birth begins an ever growing irrational and unhealthy obsession for the baby's wellbeing. It's a fantastically atmospheric film that also makes you feel completely in the room with the characters thanks to the stunning central performances and great camerawork. Writer/Director Saverio Costanzo creates a very bleak and anxiety-ridden account of this family unit; Rohrwacher is incredible and portrays someone who is beyond tired and exhausted extremely well. Driver is also a revelation in this film; having only seen him in romantic comedy What If (2013) and the Star Wars saga which he is very impressive in, its great to see his dramatic talents as shown in Star Wars fully fleshed out here and breathing life into a man at the end of his tether who doesn't know what to do. I think what also makes this one great is the fact that it starts on such a lovely sequence that made me have a big goofy grin on my face, making the build up and experience of the tragic anxiety that creeps into their lives more believable and unsettling. Although it's only main flaw is the ending which does go too far into melodrama, I found it as a whole to be a very realistic study of mental health issues and a very moving drama with two amazing performances

This is not a thriller, it's a drama. And drama's are not really my thing. There are some exceptions but this is not one of them. I had mixed feelings throughout the whole movie. After half an hour I was seriously bored and could not wait for this movie to finish. After the boredom I became angry. Very angry. If it was the point of Hungry Hearts to make you angry then they did their job. Alba Rohrwacher played her role very well, if it was her job to make you want to smack her in the face. So after being bored and angry, two things I really don't like when watching a movie, came finally the end. The end is actually the best part of the movie. A good deserved ending, but too late for me to like the movie.

Hungry Hearts, is the story of Judd and Mina, a young couple who met by accident, got into a relationship and eventually got married and had a child.

Mina, the mother of the child, while pregnant gets convinced that her child is an "indigo", a child with special abilities, who was brought to this world, to save it. She also becomes obsessed with the baby's cleanness and purity, and avoids taking the baby out, feeding him properly, and doesn't let anyone touch him, if he/she was just outside. Judd, the father of the child, grown more and more worried about the child's health, due to Mina's obsession, and he starts acting on it. He takes the kid to a modern doctor (against Mina's wishes), he starts feeding him in secret and takes him out on strolls. The different stances on the baby's growth, brings tension between the couple, who start acting against each other, in order to gain the control on the kid's upbringing.

The story is really interesting. It brings forward the absurdity of the antivax, antimed movement that has gained in popularity the last years. I would have preferred to see more of each sides pros and cons, about why they chose to raise their child the way each of them wanted.

Both protagonists were really good. Alba Rohrwacher as the obsessed mother, who wants to keep her child as pure as possible, even if that endangers her child's health. Adam Driver as the concerned father, who battles between being a supportive husband and responsible parent.

What was a shame in this movie, was the direction. It is quite bad. The whole movie felt like it was a first year direction student's semester project. Also it included a few shots that made the movie feel like a horror movie, when it wasn't. I am not sure if that was intentional, since a mother who oversees her child's health to keep it pure does sound like a horror story, but it just didn't work.

There was lots of potential, which was wasted unfortunately. I gave a 7/10 (even though I wanted lower) only because the acting was very good, and I also follow the whole absurd movement of people who turn their backs on medicine, and it was quite nice to see a movie about it.