Requiem for a Dream: analysis, summary and characters of the film

Requiem for a Dream (2000) is a film by Darren Aronofsky about addiction and the death of dreams.

The film is based on a book of the same title by writer Hubert Selby Jr., published in 1978.

It stands out in her the treatment that the director makes of the subject of addiction, the expertise to recreate states of hallucination, the sight distorted from holes and surveillance cameras, and the narrative mastery to show different shots simultaneously by dividing the screen.

It is worth asking ourselves what its title refers to, which in Spanish we can translate as Requiem for a Dream. If a requiem is the song that is sung for a deceased, then what funeral services are we attending? What has died and why?

Summary of the movie

Attention from here spoilers!

The film tells the story of Sara, Harry, Tyrone, and Marion. Sara Goldfarb, Harry's mother, receives a call to appear on her favorite television contest. Concerned about her appearance, she tries on a red dress that she wore to her son's graduation, but since she doesn't fit, she decides to go on a diet.

On the other hand, Harry, Sara's son, is a boy who is dedicated to drug trafficking with his friend Tyrone. The money he makes from this business leads Harry to propose to Marion, her girlfriend, the possibility of opening a clothing store of her own design.

The story begins in summer and an atmosphere of optimism reigns.

Sara finds it difficult to follow a diet, so she decides to go to a doctor to prescribe diet pills. Sara, although she is happy with the lost weight, rakes her teeth and begins to have hallucinations. Sensing that something is wrong, she decides to visit the doctor. He assures that as long as she loses weight everything is fine.

On the other hand, he starts a mafia war, and as a consequence the boys' drug supplier is assassinated in front of Tyrone.

The boys go into despair at not having the dose they need to stay in apparent emotional stability and they get into conflict. Marion blames Harry and they fight. Marion decides to prostitute herself to get money for drugs, while Harry and Tyrone drink the determination to ensure access to narcotics by becoming, themselves, suppliers.

Tyrone and Harry set out on a journey to bring more drugs to the city, but they cannot reach their destination, because Harry's arm has been infected after one of the doses and they must go to the hospital. There they discover that Harry's arm must be amputated.

In the hospital Tyrone is discovered in possession of drugs, for which he is imprisoned, and is forced to suffer the abuse of a racist officer and to work for him.

Sara Goldfarb, who is in a paranoid state after consuming an excessive dose of pills, arrives on the set of her favorite show. Desperate, she asks why they haven't called her to compete yet. The security personnel, noticing his condition, calls an ambulance.

Sara is admitted to an asylum. Since she refuses to eat, she is subjected to electroshock therapy, but after this she is only left as an entity.

Film analysis

The requiem is the song destined for the ceremonies of the deceased. In tradition, it fulfills the function of honoring the dead and offering peace and repose to the soul and loved ones. Title, Requiem for a dream, focuses attention on the intention behind the work.

It is, then, the representation of the "death" of dreams. What kind of dreams are you referring to? The film tries to give an answer interwoven with the problem of addiction and framed in the context of the environment of today's society: whats reality shows, popularity, easy solutions sold by marketing, what is perceived as success.

Destroyed dreams are as complex as the characters they dream of and their personal stories.

Sara Goldfarb and addiction

The life of Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow, changes when she receives an invitation to appear as a contestant on television. This gives her life a new purpose. She now she dreams of appearing before a large audience. She dreams of looking as beautiful as she appears in her son's grade picture, when she was much younger, her husband was still alive and her son had managed to graduate from high school.

Sara dreams of looking beautiful, but behind this image there is a much deeper association. She dreams of feeling as happy and safe again as at the time of the photograph. She also dreams of being able to feel appreciated and loved. At that moment her husband looked at her as the most beautiful woman in the world. She felt that it mattered, that she had a purpose, whereas today her son does not even visit her: she only appears to steal her television and thus obtain some money for drugs, although this is not why it can be said that he does not love her.

As Sara herself says, appearing on television gives her a reason to live:

Sara Goldfarb: It's a reason to get up in the morning. It's a reason to lose weight, to make the red dress look good on me. It is a reason to smile. She makes tomorrow good. What else do I have Harry, ah? Why should I even make the bed or wash the dishes? I do them, but why should I do them?

But also, appearing on television is a possibility for Sara to be seen by many and thus gain popularity. There is an idea in culture that associates popularity with being important and feeling loved:

Sara Goldfarb: I'm someone now, Harry. Everyone appreciates me. Soon, millions of people will see me and everyone will appreciate me. I'll tell them about you and your father, how he loved us. Remember?

In addition to leading an empty, lonely, and purposeless life, another contributing factor to Sara's addiction is her own inability to deal with her problems. Sara's first dialogue shows her intention to completely deny her reality, hoping that in the end everything will work out:

Sara Goldfarb: This is not happening, and if it were happening it would be fine. Then don't worry, Seymour. Everything will be fine. You will see. In the end everything is nice.

Like many, Sara dreams of regaining her slim figure. This image is falsely associated with beauty, approval, success, and love. Losing weight is celebrated in culture and is always associated with better health. Thinness as a disease is associated even with other qualities without any real justification, such as being special and unique.

Sara represents the common magical belief that as you lose weight and change your image, other aspects of life will also change and what did not work will now work out. Sara's use of diet pills, in addition to being socially celebrated as a constructive act, has the endorsement of the authority of the doctor, who formulates them as a "medicine." Of course, in this case it is an unscrupulous doctor.

On the other hand, taking pills provides Sara with a structure that orders her life with a simple formula, so that she can achieve a type of success:

Sara Goldfarb: Purple in the morning, blue at noon, orange at night. Here are my three meals Mr. Smartypants. And green at night. Just like that. One two three four.

This video recreates Sara's story, with the most important images from the film:

Marion, Harry and Tyrone: another kind of addiction

We don't know what kind of drugs these characters use. We know that they take a combination of everything: sometimes they are pills, they smoke or they take shots. However, they are complex characters that transcend the stigma with which we could pigeonhole them as addicts.

On the one hand, vices give the characters something they don't have. Marion tells Harry while they are both drugged that he makes her feel like a person and like she is herself. This she says because she is accompanied by Harry, but also because of the influence of drugs.

Marion seeks adventure and excitement in her life, as she demonstrates by activating the alarm of the building she invades, even though she had gone unnoticed by the guards. Also, Marión has a void, perhaps emotional, since her family only offers her money.

Harry and Tyrone dream of prosperity and success. They look for an easy solution that will fill them with money quickly, selling drugs:

Harry Goldfarb: We could double the easy silver. (...) Wait, Ty, see. This is our chance to win big. We do the right thing and we can get a pure pound. But if we get stuck, we screw it up.

Marion also has a talent for fashion design: her house is full of the drawings of figurines and clothes that she would like to make. In this dream, Harry joins, who proposes to him to set up his own warehouse with his help.

Deep down, Marion and Harry, like any couple, dream of a future in which they can share together, have prosperity and add achievements, providing a service to society, far from the world of drugs

In this video we can see in depth the emotional connection of the couple's moments of intimacy:

Breaking the stereotype of the addict

The film masterfully shows the situation of Sara Goldfarb. She is not the type of person we normally associate with addiction, on the contrary, she is always on the margin of the law; he goes to a doctor who prescribes pills, and his ideal is within what is associated as a constructive goal; lose weight when she is an overweight older woman.

The movie shows how his situation is completely hopeless, since long before he started taking pills, he has no reason to live and no purpose in his life. In addition, he has already fulfilled the goal of making a home that he had in his youth. She is a widow and with an addicted son who doesn't visit her, she has no life engine. She only survives on the routine of her television show and the company of the neighbors.

Deep down, Sara, after her goal of losing weight and appearing on television, far beyond fame or acceptance of masses, she only wants the same thing we all want: the well-being and prosperity of her child, with whom she wants to share her lifetime. For this reason, in the final scene of the film, Sara appears, already in the hospital, daydreaming that she hugs her son, and tells him that she loves him. Harry appears in his dream in a suit and tie, and the host announces that Harry has set up his own business, and is engaged to be married in the summer. Harry, hugging her mother, replies that he loves her too.

Also after Harry and Tyrone's dream of quick and easy money, these guys just want financial stability. And Harry and Marion only seek their prosperity as a couple and continue together.

Culture has stigmatized addicts. The belief continues that only "others", perhaps those who are considered weak or dysfunctional, are susceptible to addictions. But Requiem for a Dream shows that his characters also dream of a better future, they also want to fight and share with their loved ones. Deep down, they only want the same things we all want: security, stability, love, company and that the beings they love and that they themselves be happy.

As reflection remains the question that Sara Goldfarb asks the television audience that makes fun of her, in the middle of her hallucination, and she answers them if they being in her shoes could live her situation and handle it better way of it.

Visualization of altered states of consciousness

The film masterfully shows the states of consciousness associated with madness, paranoia, drug addiction and allows the viewer to perceive the same visual sensation as the character. Thus, we know that Sara can only think of food because she looks around her and turns the decorations and objects in the house into delicious hamburgers and cakes.

As viewers we do not know and often doubt if Sara is hallucinating, or if she is just imagining. Thus, when Sara is most affected by the pills, the light blinks; there is a permanent ringing as if there is a phone off the hook; colors appear distorted; in some places it is as if everything is illuminated by a red light, or by a green light, and Sara peeks into the eye of the door fearing that someone else is stalking her, not just the refrigerator.

The film blurs the lines between imagination and hallucination, but as viewers we retain the state of confusion, and the sensation of alteration of the senses that are associated with the disease.

Criticism of society and the American dream

The film criticizes the tendencies of today's society that are associated with success; its reality shows, popularity, easy solutions sold by marketing.

Sara's favorite TV show is a infomercial in which the contestants, who do not know what they do to deserve to be on the show, are cheered by a screaming audience "Be excited"(stay happy, motivated) and that awards them the title of winners, while everyone claps and yells with approval.

They are programs that sell easy formulas that grant success. Thus, the host of the program excites the crowd by announcing: "3 things you can do to change her life." Or the book Sara uses for her diet is called "Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Days."

The film denounces unscrupulous marketing, which is only interested in selling by promising much more than it actually delivers to its users. The formulas are so simple and attractive that everyone is tempted to believe that complex problems have immediate solutions.

There is a strong criticism of the notions of popularity associated with success that is more relevant today due to the influence of social networks and reality shows. Sara has the belief in American society that achieving fame equates to "being someone", being loved, and achieving success. Also the slender figure is linked to the world of television, fame and Hollywood.

Deep down, they are formulas for success that society prefers not to question. It is easier to think as Sara says at the beginning of the film: "that what is bad is not happening and in the end everything works out."

Characters

Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn)

She is a lonely old widowed woman whose only company is her neighbors. She dreams of appearing on television to gain popularity, and wearing the beautiful red dress that she wore to her son's graduation, when her husband was still alive. This is Sara's first dialogue in the movie:

Sara Goldfarb: This is not happening, and if it were happening it would be fine. Then don't worry, Seymour. Everything will be fine. You will see. In the end everything is nice.

Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto)

Son of Sara Goldfarb. He is a young addict who tends to daydream. To pay for her addiction, she frequently steals her mother's television to sell. She lives off the sale of drugs, along with her girlfriend, Marion Silver, and her best friend and accomplice, Tyrone C. Sees it.

Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly)

Harry Goldfarb's girlfriend. She comes from a wealthy family, who support her and pay for an apartment. She rejects them because they only offer her money and not what she wants. She is addicted to drugs and frequents a psychiatrist who invites her out of it and in return, the psychiatrist maintains the appearance of harmony in Marion's relationship with her family. She dreams of being a fashion designer. This quote belongs to one of Marion's dialogues, while she uses drugs with Harry:

Marion Silver: I love you, Harry. You make me feel like a person. As if it were me... and I was beautiful.

Tyrone C. Love (Marlon Wayans)

Friend and accomplice of Harry Goldfarb. She has contacts and knows the underworld of drug trafficking. He is a young junkie and salesman. She dreams of her mother, who offered her love, care and security when he was just a child.

Darren aronofsky

Director of American origin, born in New York in 1969. He studied Film and Social Anthropology at Harvard and later Directing at the American Film Institute. Darren Aronofsky is known for directing surreal, dramatic and disturbing films. He was nominated in the category of Best Director in 2011 at the Academy Awards Oscars, Golden Globe and Bafta. The best known films of him are Requiem for a Dream (2000), The black swan (2010) and The fighter (2008).

Other films directed by Darren Aronofsky

• Protozoa, 1992
• Pi: Order of Chaos, 1998
• Requiem for a Dream, 2000
• The source of life, 2006
• The fighter, 2008
• Black swan, 2010
• Noah, 2014
• Mother!, 2017

Technical data sheet of Requiem for a Dream

Qualification	Requiem for a Dream
Original title	Requiem for a dream
Direction	Darren aronofsky
Country	USA
Year	2000
Release date	March 23, 2001
Duration	102 min
Gender	Drama
Distribution	Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans, Christopher McDonald, Louise Lasser, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Janet Sarno, Suzanne Shepherd, Joanne Gordon.
Script	Darren Aronofsky, Hubert Selby Jr.
Distributor	Laurenfilm
Producer	Artisan Entertainment, Industry Entertainment, Thousand Words, Bandeira Entertainment, Protozoa Pictures, Requiem for a Dream, Sibling Productions, Truth and Soul Pictures.

Movie trailer

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