Vonia I could not watch this. I watched maybe a total of 1/3 of it, since I had no interest whatsoever in watching any of the pornographic scenes. For the record, I only even wanted to watch it because the director did "Show Me Love" ("Fucking Åmål"), a favorite of mine; "Lilya 4- Ever"and "Mammoth", both highly recommended, as well as "Together" and "We Are The Best", which are admittedly only alright. This is obviously his worst. At least the most experimental and explicit, therefore not to my liking. It is pretty much pornography with scenes in between that serve as interludes. How disappointing. You might disagree, but to each their own. For anyone who may or may not be willing to admit their interest, the film is notable for its explicit imagery, including close-ups of vaginal reconstruction surgery, an anal sex scene without the use of lubrication, and a masturbation scene with a toothbrush. From the director: "I have cooked you a delicious meal, but I'm not going to chew it for you."

John Dworkin The most relentlessly nihilistic, intentionally disturbing wannabe art-house vomit ever made. So totally devoid of humanity it should be erased from history. The impression is that the film was intentionally made to worsen the viewer's life to somehow even the playing field of all human existence out of some sort of morally relativistic sense of justice. It doesn't. Whether the film-maker had this intention or not makes no difference. The end result is inhumane garbage. The act of creating suffering or pain for another person doesn't guarantee any kind of revelation on the part of the one enduring the pain. I understand the value of shock. I understand our need for art to wake people up. I agree that our world is often relentlessly harsh. But no matter how noble the intentions, this film makes things worse. Garbage on garbage.

zoothorn21 Having loved 'Together' and admired, for the most part, 'Lilya 4-Ever' (as well as his short films), I was dreadfully disappointed with this new work from Moodyson. In an interview about 'A Hole On My Heart' Moodyson stated that he thought it was his best and most complex film, before saying that he didn't know what the film was supposed to be about, not offering any explanation other than 'it has many layers'. Such statements reveal entirely the reason behind the film's failure. Depsite Moodyson's assertion of complexity, there is simply nothing in this 90+ minute film that could not have been adequately communicated in a short. Simply juxtaposing unpleasant images of cosmetic surgery and action men figures with home-made pornography does not constitute a complex statement on anything. In fact the film is hopelessly meandering and one has the increasing feeling that it was 'discovered' in the editing room. I'm very interested in non-narrative film-making, and I don't need a 'story' to communicate events to me, but it is evident to me when there is a severe paucity of drive and ideas, and that feeling was evident throughout a viewing of this film. It concerns me that this film will be defended by people who feel that sitting through the unpleasant content constitutes some sort of test of intellectual rigour and that those who didn't like it are not prepared to 'face up' to the reality this film purports to present. In fact the simple truth is that this is an empty film, with a painful lack of understanding of how to dramatise ideas. I really hope Moodyson comes up with something better next time - I think his talents outstrip nonsense like this.

bastard wisher ...from all the searing images on screen. Make no mistake, this film is hard to watch and not really a whole lot of fun. That said, I do think it an ultimately affective and certainly audacious film that earns my respect even if it doesn't quite match up to Moodysson's previous film, the brilliant "Lilya 4-Ever". I will say that I think it lacks a bit of the sure-handedness that rendered like-minded extreme films like "Irreversible" or "Requiem for a Dream" ultimately so powerful. If anything, this film is like a well-meaning, endearing little brother to those films. It tries hard and gets a lot of mileage out of sheer effort, but ultimately it falls a little short. Part of the problem is the noticeable lack of the tender humanity found in Moodysson's previous films, including the bleak "Lilya 4-Ever". What ultimately caused that film to be as outstanding as it was the love that Moodysson obviously showed for his characters. It prevented the film from being the heavy-handed parade of depression that "A Hole in My Heart" sometimes threatens to become. It seems here that Moodysson has lost some of his delicate skill working with characters. If anything, he shows pity for them surely, but I'd hesitate to say compassion. The unrelenting, single-minded oppressiveness of the film threatens to become stifling, literally compelling one to wish the characters would venture outside their squalid apartment. Unfortunately, the few scenes that do occur outside of the apartment prove to be some of the film's weakest, most heavy-handed moments, revealing a newfound pretentiousness apparent in Moodysson's approach, as do the solemn, too-earnest and obvious voice-over monologues and dream sequences.Due to the relentless heaviness of the film, it unfortunately begins to have a somewhat numbing effect, losing it's emotional engagement and verges on a becoming a endless stream of ever-more revolting images, as if challenging the audience with it's shockingness. Fortunately some humor does creep into the film at odd moments and ultimately keeps the film grounded. Another plus is that the film manages to avoid being overtly preachy for the most part. Moodysson doesn't seem all that interested in pointing fingers, but rather seems to declare the entire world as being hopelessly dysfunctional and leaving it at that. One of it's few acknowledgeable targets is reality television, however. At times the allusions are clever, as when Tess, the amateur porn-starlet to be, mentions her goal of getting on the show "Big Brother", but ultimately end up rather heavy-handed the more Moodysson stresses the motif. Playing into the reality TV theme, surely, is the film's use of cheap, low-quality digital video, which has the intended affect, but overall, i think, causes the film to carry less weight than it might have otherwise. Part of what makes bleak, uncompromising films like "Irreversible", and indeed "Lilya 4-Ever", succeed is their sheer competence. Regardless of their assaultiveness, they are still undeniably well-crafted films. Unfortunately "A Hole in My Heart" doesn't have this to fall back on. If anything, it is overtly amateurish, sometimes distractingly so. Particularly when the film attempts flashier techniques it comes off a little like a film student version of "Requiem for a Dream" in it's style. The ultimate success of the film though, is that the homemade quality eventually stops being distracting. It manages to create enough of it's own cinematic sensibility that the audience can adjust to it and comfortably engage the film on it's own terms. One all the initial flaws make themselves apparent, they quickly become significantly less noticeable and the film manages to hold itself together rather well, in the long run. Also, I have to respect the film for it's sheer integrity and conviction. Even if it verges on over-earnest or heavy-handed at times, there is no question that it is refreshingly uncompromising. In many ways it reveals pseudo-rebellious social critiques like "Fight Club" and "Natural Born Killers" for what they really are: hypocritical, half-hearted films that want it both ways. "A Hole in My Heart" is nothing if not 100% behind it's convictions. As I said, though, the film doesn't manage to approach the the brilliance of "Lilya 4-Ever" by a long stretch. If anything, comparing the two only highlights the aspects of the previous film that make it the masterpiece that "A Hole in My Heart" doesn't quite manage to be (although it gets many points for trying). Ultimately though, i do think I prefer it to his earlier, gentler films (which are good in their own right as well). Certainly I would consider Moodysson one of the more remarkable relatively young filmmakers. Clearly his heart is in the right place, even if it has a hole in it.