Requiem for a Dream
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| Requiem for a Dream | |
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| Directed by | Darren Aronofsky |
| Produced by | Eric Watson Palmer West |
| Written by | Novel: Hubert Selby, Jr. Screenplay: Darren Aronofsky Hubert Selby, Jr. |
| Starring | Ellen Burstyn Jared Leto Jennifer Connelly Marlon Wayans |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | October 6, 2000 (limited); November 24, 2000 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4.5 million |
| IMDb profile | |
Requiem for a Dream is a 1978 novel by Hubert Selby, Jr. adapted into a 2000 film of the same name, directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and Marlon Wayans. Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2000 for her role.
The film depicts different forms of addiction, leading to the characters' imprisonment in a dream world, which is then overtaken and devastated by reality.
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[edit] Plot
The story's main characters are mother and son, Sara (Burstyn) and Harry Goldfarb (Leto), Harry's girlfriend Marion Silver (Connelly), and Harry's friend Tyrone C. Love (Wayans). The novel and the movie both deliberately move through three sections: summer, fall and winter.
The story begins in summer with Sara. Sara is an elderly widow who lives alone in an apartment in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, spending all day in front of her television watching a repetitive and insipid weight-loss infomercial. Her only other comforts are chocolates and other unhealthy foods. Harry only shows up at her apartment periodically to pawn her television in order to finance his heroin habit.
When she receives a phone call purporting to be from Malin & Block, a television studio, her life suddenly takes on new meaning. She believes she is to be invited as a guest on a television show. She becomes obsessed with her dream of wearing her favorite red dress on the show. After initially failing her diet, she starts taking diet pills at the recommendation of one of her friends, and dyes her hair a vibrant red. She gets a prescription from an irresponsible doctor. Harry later notices while visiting Sara that they might contain addictive stimulants (probably amphetamines) and begs her to stop taking them. Sara, in an impassioned monologue, explains to Harry the loneliness she's felt for so many years since the passing of her husband. She explains that the weight she's lost and the chance to be on television instills her with a feeling of importance among her friends, and that this chance to be on television gives her life purpose. Harry promises afterwards to come and visit more often, with Marion. On the ride home, Harry is visibly upset, but erases his despondency by shooting up.
Meanwhile, Harry and Tyrone start to earn their money as drug dealers. Excited for the suture, Harry and Marion begin making plans to open a store to sell Marion's clothing designs. Tyrone views the sudden success as the key to escaping the harsh realities of the street.
As the fall arrives, Sara becomes gradually more dependant upon her pills, progressively increases her dosage and starts having hallucinations. When she brings her concerns to her doctor, he then gives her a prescription for valium. Her hallucinations become increasingly more severe and terrifying, and she soon loses what grip she had on her life.
The others' dreams soon burst as well; Tyrone is arrested, while Brody, his friend and main drug source, dies. Harry and Marion spend the money they have thus far saved to bail Tyrone out of jail. Over the next few months, it becomes far more difficult to score, as uncut heroin is no longer available from regular dealers. They resort to buying enough each day to support their growing habits, gradually forgetting about their plans for the future. As heroin begins controlling their lives, Harry's relationship with Marion deteriorates; at the lowest point, Harry sends Marion to have sex with her former therapist to earn money for a supply of drugs.
The drugs are being sold by one of the few dealers with high-quality heroin left, as a gift for the friends during the Christmas season. At the meeting, in the stock room of a grocery store, Harry and Tyrone arrive to buy, but a violent confrontation prevents them from scoring. Marion, meanwhile, is waiting at home, destroying her once-beloved designs and the rest of the house in a fit of withdrawal-induced rage.
During the winter, discouraged by this latest disappointment, Harry and Tyrone try to break the spiral by taking a trip to Florida, where they believe heroin is available in far greater quantity. During a stop, Harry realizes that the arm he injects heroin into is becoming severely infected. Ignoring the problem, he shoots into the hole that has formed. Further along in the trip, Harry is getting seriously sick, and the infection has become markedly worse. Harry wants to call Marion, but Tyrone opts to find a hospital. After Harry checks in, the doctor realizes from the nature of his infection that he is a drug addict. The doctor reports Harry and Tyrone to the police without providing treatment, and the two are arrested.
Meanwhile, Marion pays a visit to a pimp, Big Tim, who she is told has an amount of heroin that he's only parting with for sexual favors. After the encounter, Big Tim informs Marion of a party he's throwing where she can pick up an even larger amount. At first, Marion declines the offer, but after her initial share of drugs bottoms out, she begins to reconsider.
Sara is hospitalized, after a dramatic incident at the television station. While in the hospital, Sara is restrained, drugged and force-fed by the indifferent medical staff.
In jail, Harry uses his one phone call to finally contact Marion. The two share a heartbreaking moment of connection, both of them accepting that their relationship has been crushed by addiction.
The story climaxes as the lives and dreams of the four protagonists swiftly and cruelly collapse. Harry has to have his arm amputated in a hospital after his infection, worsened by a refusal of treatment at the hospital and a lack of medical attention in jail, leads to gangrene; Sara receives electric shock treatment and almost completely withdraws from reality; Tyrone stays in jail, where he suffers from intense and untreated withdrawal and arduous labor at the hands of mocking, racist prison guards; and Marion attends Big Tim's party and is forced to perform degrading sex acts to get more heroin.
Following these scenes, the film concludes with a last look at the four protagonists. Harry awakes in the hospital, asking for Marion. The nurse by his side assures him she'll be sent for, but Harry realizes any hope of getting her back is now gone. Sara — reduced to an emaciated, catatonic shell of a human being — is now in a mental hospital. Tyrone is shown lying down for his first night in jail, obviously in a great deal of pain, dreaming of his long-gone mother. Marion is seen back at the apartment after the party, hugging a bag of heroin with a haunting smile.
[edit] Rating
In the United States, the film was originally tagged with an NC-17 rating by the MPAA due to a scene of kinky sex in the film's finale (Marion shares a two-headed dildo as a party of businessmen cheer "Ass-to-ass!" and "Come! Come! Come!"), as well as a a brief frontal nude image of Marion. Aronofsky appealed the rating, claiming that cutting any portion of the film would dilute, if not outright destroy, its message. The appeal was denied, so Artisan decided to release the film unrated. [1] An edited version of the film was released on video, rated R. This version had the sex scene shortened, but kept the rest of the movie identical to the un-rated version. This R-rated version was only distributed in video-store chains such as Blockbuster. The edited version contains an alternate title card featuring the words "Requiem for a Dream Edited Version" ensuring that the viewer is aware that the version they are watching is not the original.
In the DVD commentary, Aronofsky implies the "ass-to-ass" scene was based on something he actually witnessed; in the book the particulars of Marion's prostitution are not described.
[edit] Themes
Requiem for a Dream belongs to the genre of "drug movies", along with films like Trainspotting, Spun and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. However, the film is not only about substance abuse, but also about addiction in a wider sense: the characters are variously addicted as well to television, impossible dreams, old memories, sex, or to success. The story also asks political questions, mainly that of the relationship between the state and the individual. This is evident where Harry, Tyrone and Sara become institutionalized toward the end of the story, leaving Marion free to destroy her life with prostitution and heroin addiction. There are also examples of structural racism, exhibited towards Harry and Tyrone in the southern hospital and prison.
All of the characters in the movie hold on to memories of better times and long for meaningful connection with others. These, along with the fantastic dream worlds and delusions they gradually withdraw into, are violently and jarringly shattered in the film's denouement by the bleak and brutal reality of their present circumstances. In the DVD commentary for the film, Darren Aronofsky stresses the idea that by choosing to escape reality with denial and delusion, the characters are only destroying themselves further. The hopes they have for connection with each other and with their happier pasts give way as they are separated and subject against their wills to indifferent and exploitative treatment at the hands of strangers.
[edit] Style
As in his previous film, π, Aronofsky uses montages of extremely short shots throughout the film (sometimes termed a hip hop montage). While an average 100 minute film has around 1000 cuts, Requiem features more than 2,000. Split-screen is used extensively, along with extremely tight closeups. Long tracking shots (including those shot with an apparatus strapping a camera to an actor, called the Snorricam) and time-lapse photography are also prominent stylistic devices.
The movie's climactic scenes are cut together rapidly, and are accompanied by a score which increases in intensity. After the climax, there is a short period of serenity during which idyllic dreams of what may have been are juxtaposed with portraits of the four shattered lives.
The movie's montage style has been widely imitated and parodied since the film's release. The Simpsons parodied the effect in the episode I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can in which Homer becomes addicted to Krustyburger's new sandwich, the Ribwich; it was also parodied in an episode of Drawn Together, and a commercial for Nescafé.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was composed by Clint Mansell and performed by the Kronos Quartet. It is notable for its use of sharp, 'un-vibrato-ed' string instruments to create a cold and discomforting sound from instruments frequently used for their warmth and softness (an effect pioneered in film soundtracks by Bernard Hermann).
The soundtrack has been widely praised and has subsequently been used in various forms in trailers for other films, including the The Da Vinci Code. More specifically, a version of the recurring theme was re-orchestrated for The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers trailer. [2] This version is often known as "Requiem for a Tower," but has never been commercially released, despite being featured in many popular film trailers. The song was also sampled in Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz' album Kings of Crunk. A version of "Lux Æterna" by Fiachra Trench was featured in an Enda McCallion-directed advert for the 2006 AIB Ryder Cup.
One of the tracks, entitled "Crimin' & Dealin'" is most likely a reference to the Beastie Boys song "Rhymin' & Stealin'" from their album Licensed to Ill. In the commentary for the film, the director, Darren Aronofsky, spoke about listening to hip-hop music as a teenager, which makes the connection even more plausible.
The soundtrack was used by AIB Bank in Ireland in their advert to highlight their sponsorship of the 2006 Ryder Cup, and the film's haunting ending string portion has been used by NASCAR when depicting the two events at Talladega Superspeedway.
G.M.S. (Growling Mad Scientists), a psytrance group, made a psytrance song called 'juice,' featuring melodies from the summer and winter overtures, as well as voice samples from the movie.
[edit] Tracklisting
Summer
- Summer Overture
- Party
- Coney Island Dreaming
- Party II
- Chocolate Charms
- Ghost of Things to Come
- Dreams
- Tense
- Dr. Pill
- High on Life
- Ghosts
- Crimin' & Dealin'
- Hope Overture
- Tense II
- Bialy & Lox Conga
Fall
- Cleaning Apartment
- Ghosts Falling
- Dreams II
- Arnold
- Marion Barfs
- Supermarket Sweep
- Dreams III
- Sara Goldfarb Has Left the Building
- Bugs Got a Devilish Grin Conga
Winter
- Winter Overture
- Southern Hospitality
- Fear
- Full Tense
- The Beginning of the End
- Ghosts of a Future Lost
- Meltdown
- Lux Aeterna
- Coney Island Low
[edit] Remixed Soundtrack
[edit] Tracklisting
- Clint Mansell - Tappys Intro (Film Score)
- Plant - In The End Its All Nice
- Psilonaut - Ghosts In The Machine
- Paul Oakenfold - Aeternal (6:50)
- Clint Mansell - Seacoast Towers (Film Score)
- Jagz Kooner - Coney Island Express
- Clint Mansell - Seacoast Alarm (Film Score)
- Wish FM - Haunted Dreams
- Kronos Quartet - Tense
- Josh Wink - Full Tense
- Clint Mansell - Food (Film Score)
- Delerium - Deluxed
- Clint Mansell - Island (Film Score)
- A Guy Called Gerald - Body And Fear
- Clint Mansell - 112 (Film Score)
- Ils - Overturned
- Clint Mansell - Sara (Film Score)
- Hive - Hand Jive
- Clint Mansell - Arnold (Film Score)
- Clint Mansell - Ghosts (Vocal Version)
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ellen Burstyn | Sara Goldfarb |
| Jared Leto | Harry Goldfarb |
| Jennifer Connelly | Marion Silver |
| Marlon Wayans | Tyrone C. Love |
| Christopher McDonald | Tappy Tibbons |
| Louise Lasser | Ada |
| Marcia Kurtz | Rae |
| Janet Sarno | Mrs. Pearlman |
| Suzanne Shepherd | Mrs. Scarlini |
| Joanne Gordon | Mrs. Ovadia |
| Charlotte Aronofsky | Mrs. Miles |
| Abraham Aronofsky | Newspaper Man on Train |
| Darren Aronofsky | Partygoer (Uncredited) |
| Mark Margolis | Mr. Rabinowitz |
| Sean Gullette | Arnold The Shrink |
| Stanley B. Herman | Uncle Hank |
| Keith David | Big Tim |
| Dylan Baker | Southern Doctor |
| Ben Shenkman | Dr. Spencer |
| Ajay Naidu | Mail Man |
| Hubert Selby, Jr. | Laughing Guard |
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Requiem for a Dream at the Internet Movie Database
- Toy Story 2: Requiem - mashup of Toy Story 2 and Requiem for a Dream
- Requiem For A Dream - A review
| The films of Darren Aronofsky |
|---|
| π • Requiem for a Dream • The Fountain |
