Director: Darren Aronofsky
Producer: Eric Watson
Writer: Hubert Selby Jr.
Distributor: Artisan entertainment
"Now we come to step three. This... drives... most... people... crazy. "
Every single one of us copes with some sort of addictive nature during our short time on Earth. For some it's the cliche' recreational drug, other people get into the hard stuff. Some people indulge dangerously into food, some into their immense stashes of pornography, while others cut their skin for the rush of feeling human again. Video games give us the sensation of reward and it has scientifically been proven to lead to addictive nature, as with pass times like pornography. There's always something we choose to center a certain section of our lives around because it either breaks the monotonous routine of daily life or gives us a "high." In Requiem for a Dream we follows the lives of four people, all connected by love, family and friendship. Each one slipping into an addiction that ultimately leads to one of the most bleak, disturbing and saddening endings in motion cinema history. What's amusing is, even though the film centers around drug abuse, it's really not about being an after school special. It's more than that. Much more.
From the start we are introduced to heroin addict Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) and his sympathetic elderly mother Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn). Harry is in the middle of "acquiring" his mother's television set in order to pawn it off for some drug money at a local market. Right off the bat there's a heavy smog in the air of this film, it reeks of emotional intensity. Harry belittling his mother because she doesn't want him to take the television set away, while she hides herself in the bedroom, behind a locked door; holding a cross necklace and saying to herself that everything is alright, "In the end, it's all nice." It's indicated in the first fifteen minutes of the film that both Harry and his mother have a routine addiction. In Harry's case it's made obvious; heroin, with the side routine of stealing his mother's television on a weekly basis. With Sara, we're given a (in the scheme of things) subtle hint that she's a little too addicted to the boob tube. What's interesting is how Aronofsky pulls your leg and makes the viewer think that the television is her main focal addiction but it ends up being a stealthy catalyst into something much worse. Harry's joined in the hallway of the apartment complex by his near stereotypical black stoner buddy, Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans). Luckily, enough proper direction was given to Marlon and from it we got a very good performance throughout; a pleasant surprise.
After a beautifully directed opening sequence we're introduced to Harry's girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly). Their unimaginably tight bond, ocean deep love is heavily focused on during every single scene they are in for the first third of the film. In fact, the entirety of the first third of the film is labeled "Summer" and presented as a wonderland of opportunity, happiness and the happiness of youth. Sara get's a call from a cable station saying that she's won a blind lottery for getting onto a television show. Harry, Tyrone and Marion have put themselves into a drug circle that is bringing in tremendous amounts of cash and now Marion/Harry are able to start their own clothing businesses while Tyrone is settling down happily in his apartment with a beautiful girlfriend. Everything goes right. Everything adds up. Everything feels so perfect that nothing could possibly shake the foundation. That's how it's perceived but not only does the rest of the film literally tear every last bit of youth, hope, innocence and light from these people's lives but even in the beginning, you start to notice a very sad irony. These people are only happy under the influence of their own addiction.
At first I thought I was missing the point but whenever Harry and Marion were on screen together, they would go under the affects of heroin and THEN begin to act painfully in love. There's no indication that the love is there outside of their addiction. Before any sort of deep affection is shown, they have to go into their land of addictive relief. Harry at one point visits his mother and has a sad realization that he's been a terrible son. So on the cab ride home he begins to sob uncontrollably and almost instantly he shoots up and everything is alright again. This theme is persistent through the entire first portion of the film but what's really terrifying is it creeps up on you. At first you don't really notice this but then it becomes more apparent and that's when the unsettling mood sets in. It's almost like Aronofsky was preparing his audience for what was to come or maybe, he was just saying that this is how it was all along.
On the flip side we have Sara, who has become lonely due to her husband's passing several years prior and her son's erratic, selfish behavior. After the phone call from the cable station she focuses heavily on her appearance; figuring out how to look and what to wear when the big day comes. She eventually decides to try and fit into a slim, red dress that she wore to Harry's high school graduation. Another piece of the catalyst. Her lack of slim shape leads to seeking the help of neighboring tenants on the subject of weight loss. Though a rational route is taken at first, dieting, she begins to feel the pressure of hunger. Her refrigerator quite literally...calls to her. So to the doctor she goes, who is quick to prescribe her a sequence of speed based medications "Purple in the morning, blue in the afternoon, orange in the evening and green at night." Her brand new routine.
The movie gets to a certain point where fates "meet" and everybody is pretty much at the same point into their little journey. The happiness has faded but hey, things will get better and everything will be okay. There's nothing to worry about. The cable station will eventually call Sara back with more information, right? Harry and Marion will get enough money to keep their businesses going, right? Tyrone will move up the ladder in his drug circle and make his girlfriend happy, right? The film literally plays this way. Happiness >>> Redemption >>>> Hope >>>> Despair >>>> Suffering >>>> Realization. There's plenty in between to fill the meaty sections of character development and viewer involvement with the plot. All of the in betweens are good because it really helps the viewer get on the same level with these characters; something Aronofsky loves to do (i.e Black Swan and The Wrestler). He wants you to actually feel the broad range of emotions the characters are shifting through every single moment. And you do. Oh you really, really do. More than you really want to.
The entire story is a disturbing look into people who are controlled by what makes them happy, what gives them a sensation of purpose. It shows what some are willing to do for their obsession and who gets hurt in the process. Some might take this simply as "drugs are bad" but that is far, far, faaaaar from the point. We're given the inevitable fact that when we let our addictions or obsessions completely control our lives, it leads to disastrous and usually irreversible consequences. What's really saddening is there's also the other end of the spectrum that is shown. These people only wanted what could make them happy and they fought hard for it but in the end, they were left with nothing. It's a really twisted aspect of reality that might be hard for many to swallow. Which is why this movie its so close to home for so many.
Storyline-wise that's as far as I can go. There's plenty I didn't touch upon (plenty) and the emotional ride can only be fully understood by actually watching the film. I'll say one thing though....it's haunting. It wrecked me emotionally and I'm still not over the aftermath. You're going to come out of this moving hating it, even if you loved it. Why? Because there's no saving grace that lifts up the tears from the viewers to say "Hey, everything is okay now." None. Every last millisecond is bleak. Pitch....black....bleak. And no, there's not a happy ending....happy beginning in the reality of things or a happy in between. I say this because some people are easily emotionally broken by certain kinds of movies. There are many who don't want to be emotionally scarred because of a film. So that's your disclaimer.
Technically, it's marvelous. There's heavy use of cut shots, slow motion and audio mixing to not only give the euphoric sensation of a high but also the isolated, nightmare feeling of crashing and hitting rock bottom. Clint Mansell composed an original score that also compliments the emotions to a tee. By now I'm sure a majority of people have heard the star track of the same name; "A Requiem for a Dream". The song is used a lot throughout the runtime and at first I thought I'd be really sick of it but then when I figured out why it was being used and when, it felt masterfully placed. Every image is haunting. The whole beginning of the film feels like a dream, playing off that sensation of Summertime happiness. Where everything is going right. Then during the in between there's a vague sense of dream and being awake. A misty mix. And throughout the finale, there's a heavy load of realism. Coming down off that high and seeing the destruction. Every actor gave an excellent performance, especially Jennifer Connelly and Ellen Burstyn. Everybody else did a phenomenal job as well but those two stuck with me particularly. But it really is hard to give credit to only some of the actors. They all carried their character's on their backs and gave it everything they possibly could, it shows tremendously.
"A Requiem for a Dream" has made it to my list of most inspiring, favorite and emotionally draining films of all time. Like "Mulholland Dr.", "Thirteen", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Changeling", we're left with the opposite of mainstream media; life's a bitch. Even when we strive for happiness there's always the chance that not everything will go our way. The question is, if it doesn't go our way, how do we handle it? Do we take the last resort and gamble our chances of turning out like Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Sara or do we take a different path? But what if that path is destructive as well? Like I said, it's bleak and makes you think when it isn't making you want to vomit or cry.
