The Normal Heart

TV Movie
2014
TV-MA
2h 12m

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

38K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:31

Biography Drama History Romance

In the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the d... Read allIn the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the disease.In the early 1980s, the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York led to an emergence of homosexual activists. With support from the medical community, they try to raise awareness about the disease.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

38K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,770

107

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Primetime Emmys
- 29 wins & 59 nominations total

Trivia
Jim Parsons, who plays Tommy, also played the part in the 2011 Broadway revival, making him the only actor to reprise his role. His co-stars included Ellen Barkin, Lee Pace, John Benjamin Hickey, and Luke Macfarlane.

Goofs
When Felix is riding the subway while observing a rider with lesions, the subway car is immaculately clean and graffiti free. During the early-1980s (the time this film takes place), New York City subway cars were notoriously gritty looking with graffiti covering the inside and outside of the cars. Police officers were also a common sight as crime on the subway was at an all time high. During the late 1980s, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) which oversaw the city's subway services purchased a newer model from Canadian manufacturer Bombardier that was made of graffiti-proof alloys and had a different seat layout from previous trains. This model is the one used in this film.

Quotes
Felix Turner: Men do not naturally not love. They learn not to.

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Seth Rogen/Matt Bomer/Coldplay (2014)

Soundtracks
Angel Eyes
Written by Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry
Performed by Roxy Music
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd.
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews86

Review

Featured review

8/10

"We are all walking time-bombs..."

Heart-rending, gut-wrenching adaptation by Larry Kramer of his own successful play about the foundation and formation in 1982 of the Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City in the wake of what was then-called the Gay Cancer (now HIV/AIDS). Dramatization of events, with Mark Ruffalo's screenwriter Ned Weeks substituting for Kramer, is necessarily a no-holds-barred examination of gay sex in the '80s and its consequences, with the gay community themselves their own worst enemy (by being asked to abstain in the wake of more information on the disease, they felt oppressed as a modern culture and rebelled). In spite of an agonizingly long gestation period for this material (which Barbra Streisand optioned years ago, but was unable to finance), director Ryan Murphy has crafted an immediate and powerful document, alternately angry, sexy, tough, moving and thoughtful. Though "Longtime Companion" and the cable-film "And The Band Played On" have covered the AIDS epidemic (and done it extremely well), that does not lessen the impact of this HBO film, which packs an emotional wallop. Performances from Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Alfred Molina, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and the entire cast are superlative.