Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream is a film about addiction and drugs which really attacks at the heart of the person watching it. We are presented with four characters, each with an addiction to something, and watch as this addiction eats away at their lives, tearing them apart and ultimately ruining them. It is an incredibly powerful, very disturbing film which will leave a lasting impression on anyone who watches it.

We are presented with Sara Goldfarb who lives alone and watches television all day. She gets a phone call one day telling her that she is going to be on television and immediately decides to prepare for this. She tries to lose weight and eventually starts taking diet pills. These pills have a horrifying effect on her and over the course of the film we slowly see her wasting away. Her aim is to fit into the red dress that her late husband loved so much, but by the end of the film the woman in the red dress is a long way away from the woman she fantasises she could be. Ellen Burstyn is absolutely brilliant, and manages the idiosyncrasies of a person who craves food perfectly. The story around her is perhaps the most disturbing of them all because it is the most relatable in many ways, and the changes that she undergoes are so dramatic that it makes you think about how easy it is to lose control. The pivotal scene where she is debating about taking more than her dose of diet pills had me willing her not to do it, just so that the horror she experiences wouldn’t get any worse.

Jared Leto (singer from 30 Seconds to Mars) plays Sara’s son Harry, who she believes to be a happy and successful businessman, but who is actually deeply involved with drugs. Together with his friend Tyrone and his girlfriend Marion they begin to spiral down into the cycle of addiction. This has horrifying consequences for all of them. They become more and more involved in their drug habits and start going to greater extremes in order to feed their addiction. Their respective fates are as bad as the fate which befalls Sara, and in one particular case, far worse, but I won’t spoil it for you. Both Jennifer Connelly and Jared Leto do very well in this film, and it is sad to watch them spiral from the young couple in love to two people wondering where their next hit is going to come from.

At the end of the film, the last scene is horrendous. Shortly before, we are presented with each characters outcomes (including one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever watched) and despite being a very minimalist ending, the weight of the last hour and a half of their actions makes this scene very poignant. The characters curl into the foetal position, and you find yourself looking back to the start of the film and realising how dramatically wrong their lives have gone in such a short space of time. The film is very difficult to write about because it is quite hard to convey just how much of an impact it leaves on you. It is not a pleasant film at all, and in many places it is very disturbing, but what is worse is that the audience can see it happening. Obviously you can’t predict what will happen to the characters, but the audience is sitting there knowing that it is not going to end well. It has a very powerful message about addictions in this sense. It is also very difficult to watch, and not only because of the outcomes for each of the characters. The way it is filmed doesn't make for easy watching, and every instance of drug taking is marked by a montage of the effects it has on the body.

The director, Darren Aronofsky (who also did Black Swan), has done a fantastic job with this film. In no sense of the word is Requiem for a Dream entertaining, and you will find yourself genuinely disgusted at times throughout the film, but it is the message that is most important. It highlights the devastating effects that drugs and addiction can have on your life, and by making you engage with the characters, it makes you ‘feel’ when it all goes wrong. It is very rare that a film has such a significant impact on you after you watch it, but Requiem for a Dream does. It is one of those films that I immediately recommended to a friend, just because of the impact it had on me.

A little tip of the hat to the soundtrack, which includes the song ‘Requiem’ which you will know when you hear. The use of this song in the film adds to the impact it has, making a very imposing and scary situation much worse.

I cannot recommend Requiem for a Dream strongly enough, but not because of its entertainment value. It will leave you thinking for quite a while after, and you will likely not enjoy some of the scenes, but it is one of those films that you cannot afford to miss. It is an incredibly powerful film about addiction and is so real that it makes you feel like you have been dragged in as well.