Asia Argento scandal: 5 things about the unsettling ‘Heart Is Deceitful’ film

Chuck Campbell | Knoxville

Show Caption Hide Caption Asia Argento first bonded with her accuser in Knoxville Asia Argento and Jimmy Bennett first bonded wile filming “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” which was filmed in Knoxville in 2003.

Italian actress/director Asia Argento and California actor Jimmy Bennett play a mother and son in "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” largely filmed in Knoxville and the surrounding area during the fall of 2003. It was the second full-length film directed by Argento, who was 28 at the time, and the second live-action film role for Bennett, who was 7.

More: Asia Argento bonded with her sexual-assault in Knoxville-filmed movie

By all accounts the two have kept up with each other over the years. But documents obtained by the New York Times show that the actor alleged Argento took advantage of an underage Bennett in a hotel room in 2013 – plying him with alcohol, undressing him, performing oral sex on him and initiating intercourse. The encounter allegedly left Bennett “mortified” and “disgusted.” The documents show her attorney, whom she shared with her boyfriend, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain (who committed suicide in June), made arrangements to pay Bennett $380,000 in an effort to keep a lid on the alleged encounter.

However, on Tuesday, journalist Yashar Ali released a statement from Argento, now 42, in which she denied having sex with Bennett, now 22, and said the payout to the actor came at the insistence of Bourdain.

Then on Wednesday, TMZ released texts allegedly between Argento and one of her friends in which Argento says, “I had sex with him (Bennett) it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter … The horny kid jumped me.” Later texts allegedly from Argento claim “90% of the world” doesn’t care about the scandal.

Also on Wednesday, Bennett broke his silence and, in an email to USA TODAY from his lawyer, reaffirmed his assertion that Argento did have sex with him when he was a minor.

More: Jimmy Bennett: We DID have sex when I was underage

Argento is under particular scrutiny because of a seeming double standard from the actress who has been a leader of the #MeToo movement. Last year she alleged film producer Harvey Weinstein repeatedly sexually abused her, starting with his alleged rape of her during the 1997 Cannes Film Festival when she was 21. Allegedly prompted by Argento’s public declaration of being an abuse victim, Bennett (via his attorney) called her out on her own alleged indiscretion.

Meanwhile, that obscure indie film, made in Knoxville 15 years ago, was a springboard to the scandal. Here are five things to know about that near-forgotten movie that is suddenly in the spotlight.

The basics

Not only did Argento star in and direct “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” she co-wrote it based on a collection of stories by “J.T. LeRoy,” an author persona created by writer Laura Albert. The movie follows a young boy named Jeremiah as he struggles to get by with only his drug-addled, temperamental and neglectful mother to care for him.

Along the way, Jeremiah is mentally and physically abused by both his mother Sarah and some of the many men that come and go in her life. The movie's title is from the Bible – Jeremiah 17: 9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: Who can know it?”

The box-office take for the film was only a little more than $200,000 worldwide.

What do viewers see?

The gritty movie includes a panorama of the Knoxville area, including everything from the Western Heights area to scenic views of the East Tennessee mountains and lush roadside canopies.

Some scenes are set downtown, and there’s a protracted scene at the intersection of Gay Street and Church Avenue, location of the city’s Rowing Man statue. The First Tennessee Bank tower, the now-closed Arby’s on Gay Street and the now-demolished former Knoxville News Sentinel building flash by in the background. Other settings include the now-closed Mouse’s Ear South strip club on Alcoa Highway and a Kroger.

Who else is in it?

Bennett plays Jeremiah for roughly the first half of the film. Then twin actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse take over to play an older version of the character. Other stars include Jeremy Renner, Peter Fonda, Winona Ryder, Ben Foster, Ornella Muti and rock star Marilyn Manson.

What happens to the boy?

Some of the unsettling scenes featuring Argento and Bennett show her forcing him to take a pill and taking him on a long road trip while he hallucinates and also forcing him to sleep in a bathtub while she has sex with a stranger in the next room. Afterward, she urinates in front of him, and when she discovers he wet himself during the night, she forces him into the next room, pulls his pants down and directs the man she was sleeping with to beat the boy with his belt.

In another scene featuring Bennett: After Sarah lands what seems to be a more respectable boyfriend (Emerson, played by Renner), the new couple lock the boy in the man’s house and leave him alone.

Trapped and distressed, Jeremiah makes a mess of the house and vandalizes a wall before falling asleep. He awakens to find Emerson staring at him. The boy assumes Emerson is going to beat him, so he fetches a belt – but Emerson rapes Jeremiah instead.

The brutalized boy then endures a hospital examination by doctors and an evaluation by a social worker (Ryder), which results in him being sent to his fundamentalist grandparents (Fonda and Muti), who indoctrinate him into a cult-like lifestyle for several years before his mother reclaims him and sends his life spiraling back out of control.

What did critics say?

Although some 40 percent of the critics give the film a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the vast majority of top critics give it a thumbs down.

Ty Burr (The Boston Globe) said it was “vile beyond redemption,” Ann Hornaday (the Washington Post) said it “reeks of a project desperate for edgy credibility,” and the late Roger Ebert declared, “There is no redemption, no surcease, and as the film ends the barbarity continues. This film made me intensely uncomfortable … ”

Also, the Women Film Critics Circle bestowed the movie with a “Hall of Shame” award. That said, the audience rating for the film on Rotten Tomatoes is 70 percent positive, so the movie isn’t universally despised.