HUNGRY HEARTS

After a chance encounter in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant, Mina (Alba Rohrwacher) and Jude (Adam Driver) fall in love. Soon Mina is pregnant and the couple is celebrating their relationship with friends and family. Having never really been a part of a family, Mina finds the new dynamic both exhilarating and intimidating. In search of some guidance she visits a psychic whose counsel begins to inform Mina’s future actions in unpredictable ways. Having been blessed with an “indigo child”, one whose purity will enlighten and enhance the world, Mina begins emphatically preparing for the child’s arrival. After the baby’s birth, Jude gradually begins to grasp that their once welcoming home has been transformed into a den for Mina’s obsession and paranoia. As Mina slips farther down the rabbit hole, Jude is faced with a most dreaded realization.

Hungry Hearts writer-director Saverio Costanzo crafts a truly haunting portrait of human desperation and the complex nature of motivation. This poignant exploration into maternal instincts and familial bonds is singularly enhanced by Rohrwacher’s heartbreaking performance.

—Holly Voges