The Normal Heart
A harrowing and heart-wrenching drama capturing the terror of the early AIDS crisis. Historical Tragedy + Righteous Fury + The silent accumulation of Rolodex cards.
The Normal Heart
The Normal Heart

"To win a war, You have to start one"

25 May 2014 United States of America 132 min ⭐ 7.7 (903)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons, Alfred Molina
Drama
The Politics of Activism Love Amidst Plague The Closet as a Prison Institutional Apathy

The Normal Heart - Easter Eggs & Hidden Details

Easter Eggs

The Yale Reunion

The ending at Yale is based on a real event (Gay Week at Yale). It serves as a bittersweet glimpse of the future generation reaping the benefits of the activism that cost the characters their lives.

The Title

The title comes from W.H. Auden's poem 'September 1, 1939': 'The windsiest militant trash / Important Persons shout / Is not so crude as our wish: / What mad Nijinsky wrote / About Diaghilev / Is true of the normal heart; / For the error bred in the bone / Of each woman and each man / Craves what it cannot have, / Not universal love / But to be loved alone.'