Hungry Hearts

"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)

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.

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.

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.

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....