Home Movies #2: A Hole in my Heart

Home Movies #2: A Hole in my Heart

Lukas Moodysson’s A Hole in my Heart is essentially a film about making a home movie, this movie happens to be an amateur porn film. The film centres around Eric, a teenager, who is the only member of a live audience watching the shooting of the movie in his father’s apartment. The actors are his father, Rickard, an unknown young woman, Tess, and his father’s emotionally disturbed friend, Geko. What is fascinating about this film, is the way in which it both problematises and celebrates mass media and pornography. On the one hand, the film questions the morality of the individual acts in this film, which culminate in horror and violence. Also,  the damaging, traumatic effects of the exposure to incestous sexuality on Eric, who is withdrawn, unwell and attempting to construct borders in a borderless world. On the other hand, the film shows the exhilarating power of ameteur filmmaking, the creative sublimation available – even within a run-down, near-derelict apartment – and also the freedom to express sexuality when there are no boundaries and no gatekeepers. As an exploration of queering home movies, this film is spot on.  – LJ