Requiem for a Dream

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Herbert Selby Jr.
Released: October 27, 2000
Genre: Drama
Budget: $4,500,000
Gross: $7,390,108
Production Companies: Artisan Entertainment, Thousand Words, Sibling Productions, Protozoa Pictures, Industry Entertainment, Bandeira Entertainment, Requiem for a Dream, Truth and Soul Pictures
Runtime: 102 minutes
Rating: R
Sound mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Synopsis:

This film follows different plots. I'm going to separate the synopsis into two parts that I think will make it easier for you to understand and for me to explain. 

Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn)

Sara Goldfarb lives alone in an apartment complex. The complex houses many other old woman who Sara is friends with. She spends her days either out in the sun with her friends or inside watching infomercials. One day Sara receives a phone call informing her she has been chosen to be on television. She decides to lose weight and get back to the way she looked at her son, Harry Goldfarb's (Jared Leto), high school graduation. After attempting dieting and failing Sara sees a doctor her friend tells her about who helped their daughter shed weight quickly. The doctor gives Sara pills to take in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. She does this and finds herself losing weight rapidly but she also begins to hallucinate. 

Her son comes to visit her at her complex and finds that she has been on "uppers." He warns her to stop taking the pills that they are making her ill. But Sara objects and tells Harry that she is going to be on television and it gives her something to live for. After Harry leaves she develops an addiction for the drug, her hallucinations worsen, but yet she still continues to use them. After not receiving a call from the people who told her she would be on television she leaves the confinements of her apartment and searches for  the studio. She finds the studio but the employees realize that she is not well. They call the cops who bring her to a psych ward. After failed attempts to treat Sara they turn to a more dramatic treatment method, Electroconvulsive therapy. Unfortunately, this does not help Sara. Sara loses her mind and does not even recognize her friends from the apartment complex.

Harry Goldfarb, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans)

Both Harry and Tyrone, who are both heroin addicts, get into drug trade. Harry is saving the money so that one day him and his girlfriend, Marion (also an addict), can open a clothing store. Tyrone gets caught in the middle of a gang altercation and ends up in jail where Harry has to use a lot of his money to bail him out. After some time the drug trade slows and drugs become increasingly difficult to get ahold of. Harry and Marion then get into an argument because of money and drugs which sends Harry to Florida to hopefully find heroine. He finds some and injects it into his already infected arm at the site of the wound. The pain in his arm grows out of control and he goes to the hospital. His arm is checked out and Tyrone and Harry are thrown in jail. They both struggle through withdrawal in jail together. 

While Harry and Tyrone are in jail, Marion, craving her fix, contacts a man who she offers sex to for drugs. He makes her engage in a sex show where she has sex with another woman in front of a large crowd of people. Harry's arm gets even worse and he is taken to the hospital. He wakes up and his arm is gone. 

Commentary:

For this film's commentary I'd like to focus on four elements. The elements are editing, sound, acting, and narrative. 

Editing

Each time a character shoots up,

pops a pill,

or snorts a line,

a sequence is showed. The sequences are made up of extreme close-up shots to increase the intensity. The sequences repeat throughout the film. This repetition emphasizes the obsession or addiction the characters develop for the drugs. 

Sound

Each sequence is composed of a montage of sounds. As the film develops the sounds in the sequences take on a different form. You hear swords and knives sharpening and clashing,  you hear a sound we usually associate with fight scenes, and you hear a bomb exploding. All these sounds indicate battle or war sort of like the battle each character faces with their addiction. 

This video contains some (not all) of the sequences I am referring to:

Narrative

The narrative's use of seasons to separate plot adds another layer of understanding to the entire film's story. 

The stories all begin in summer. Summer represents harmony and perfection. Sara Goldfarb enjoys her infomercials and her chocolate every day while Harry and Marian are both deeply in love with each other. Everything in each character's life is perfect. 

Then fall comes which represents the anticipation of illness or cold coming. Each character in fall begins to be consumed by their addiction. Harry and Marion experience a falling out because they need money and drugs. Sara Goldfarb begins to lose her mind to her hallucinations. Harry's arm becomes infected due to unsanitary injection methods. 

Then in the winter death plagues the characters. Well, the characters do no die but parts of them do. Sara Goldfarb's dream of being on television diminishes when she ends up in a psych ward. She also loses her mind completely. 

Harry and Tyrone lose their freedom when they are put in jail.

Harry loses his arm to the infection. 

Marion loses her dignity to a man who forces her to have sex with another girl in front of a crowd for drugs. 

And Marion and Harry lose each other and their dreams of opening a clothing store with clothing Marion designs. 

Acting

Toward the conclusion of the film each character curls into the fetal position. These shots express their vulnerability. They are all now incompetent like a baby. They all need something to survive now other than the drugs they're addicted to. For Sara Goldfarb it's the psych ward to which she is dependent. For Harry Goldfarb it's the hospital he depended on to live. For Marion it is the pimp who gives her drugs in exchange for sex to which she depends on. And for Tyrone it is the jail he depends on for food, water, and shelter.

Requiem for a Dream is a film that will leave a huge impact on every single person who watches it. The film score is haunting enough to keep you up at night. Nevertheless, this film out does itself in teaching the audience the dangers of drug abuse. With hardcore scenes that are difficult to swallow and a sad storyline of washed up dreams. Requiem for a Dream does what a film is supposed to do. It tells you a story and leaves you with something to dwell on after viewing it.