Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1379 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-08-06
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fantasy mixes with the harsh reality of addiction and the desire for hope in Requiem for a Dream. Beginning at the dawn of a new summer in Coney Island, the film charts the relationship of Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) and her son Harry (Jared Leto)--two characters who are lost with in a world of the self-absorbed desire to feed their addictions at the cost of hope and love. With a sublime score (performed by the Kronos Quartet) accompanying some intense visual imagery, the film sets up an almost fairy-tale wash over the characters' lives, with every hit of their chosen drug turning them into beautiful people surrounded by a haze which enhances all their features. However, unlike films such as Trainspotting which turn the dream into a nightmare then end with a huge dose of hope, Requiem for a Dream forces the viewer through all loss of hope and the descending madness of reality, as winter begins.

Darren Aronofsky's follow-up to the critically acclaimed Pi is a movie which exposes not only the terror caused by addiction of any kind--be it TV or Heroin--but also offers a powerful insight into the destruction caused by the desire to achieve "the American Dream". Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr, the film sacrifices dialogue in favour of imagery and movement: the editing and cinematography are reminiscent of MTV, however the movie takes this very aggressive style and moulds it to its own needs, adding a beautifully haunting narrative and powerful performances by its four main characters (Burstyn just missing out on an Oscar for Best female lead to Julia Roberts). Ultimately the viewer is left with a sense of desperation and despair: Requiem for a Dream exposes drugs and addiction in the most powerful and truthful way a film has ever managed, leaving no stone unturned.

On the DVD: This disc is bursting with excellent special features. The anamorphic widescreen picture makes the most of the film's stylish visuals, and the soundtrack offers choice of either Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. As well as offering the obligatory theatrical trailer, scene selection and a fantastic director's commentary, there's also a "making-of" featurette, TV trailers charting the reviews and success of the film, an "Anatomy of a scene", and a wide range of deleted scenes. By far the best feature is Hubert Selby Jr's interview with Ellen Burstyn, which offers the writer a chance to put across not just his opinions on his work but also on life as a whole. All these features are placed within an impressively formatted menu. --Nikki Disney

Special Features
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
English

Synopsis
For his follow-up to his darkly brilliant debut, PI, director Darren Aronofsky chose to adapt a tough and meaty piece of work: Hubert Selby's 1968 novel REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, a dark spiral into the abyss of barren fantasies doomed to extinction. However, in Aronofsky's frenetic, visionary, unique, and disturbing style lies the perfect setting for this story of four people whose intertwined lives are filled with eternally hopeful despair. This is a different sort of horror film. Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) and Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly) are lovers in Brooklyn with dreams of setting up a small business and spending the rest of their lives in love--their version of the American dream. The two are also desperate heroin addicts, a compulsion that darkens their lives and leads Harry to repeatedly pawn his mother's television. His mother, Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), is addicted to television, which is why she keeps replacing the stolen set. One day she receives a call from her favorite show, the surreal TAPPY TIBBONS SHOW, and learns that she has been selected to appear on an upcoming broadcast. When she can't fit into her best red dress, her doctor prescribes diet pills (uppers), to which she swiftly and painfully becomes addicted. Harry's cohort, an intelligent hustler named Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), completes the foursome. With its unflinching dissection of addiction, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is a psychologically disturbing, visually captivating depiction of lost hope. The last half hour of the film is among the most harrowing of any film ever made.

Customer Reviews

packs a mighty emotional punch
i have been put off watching this film for a while only because its another film about drug addication and the perils within. there are circles that believe this to be one of the great masterpieces of the 21st century. there are others that claim that it is just another drug story with nothing new to say. wrong! Darren Aronofsky brings a flair seen only in directors that are destined to be great. its a visually stunning work which grips you from beginning to end. yes it is a story about drugs and drug addiction, and the beautiful lives that get taken away by it, but its done with such visual flair and acting (especially ellen burstyn). even the music by clint mansell sticks in the brain. its enough to put one off drugs for life. dont be put of by the subject matter. buy it and see a truly great piece of cinema.

Essential movie for everyone...
This movie is very hard to watch, but it is supposed to be. I won't go into the story as that has been well documented in previous reviews, but like others I must mention that the cinematography is superb. The first section of the film, 'Summer', is gorgeously shot with beautiful use of light and setting. In later stages of the film the cinematography perfectly compliments the story and pace of the movie.

The characters are the most amazing part of this movie, in my opinion. All four main actors give gritty, realistic performances with the standout being Ellen Burstyn as Sara. I cried as I watched her life slip into freefall. A completely realistic and believable performance.

This is a bleak film, and takes you on a fast and furious freefall into the depths of humanity, but in my opinion it is essential viewing.

Beautifuly shot. dubious message
The first half of this film is brilliant. Sooo well shot, I love the scenes on the pier and the film drifts like a dream. The soundtrack is brilliant, going from atmospheric, to amazing time lapsed scenes to classical music. I love it!

But the second half descends into catastrophe. It's much better than bjorks depressing 'dancer in the dark' but similar; Bjorks film deliberately destroys all it's characters for the sake of a tragic ending, and this is done to prove some 'point'.

This film cynically destroys every character it creates in the first half, ruined by there own action almost biblically! I think it's much more puritanical then it looks and slightly heartless hence the 4 stars. But is still quite a masterpiece.