History Literature / RequiemForADream

** The names of the pills Sara takes are never named either, aside from Harry referring to them as "uppers". But considering the book was set in the 60s, as well as the addictiveness and strength of the pills, it's safe to assume they're methamphetamine tablets. Her symptoms are also consistent with amphetamine psychosis, a schizophrenia-like ailment caused by long-term amphetamine abuse. Unlike most forms of schizophrenia, however, [[DownerEnding amphetamine psychosis resists most forms of treatment, and is essentially permanent.]]

* TragicDream: Although many prefer to simplify the film as having an [[DrugsAreBad "anti-drug"]] message, the real heart of the story is in the unrealistic and unattainable dreams of the characters that leads to the addiction. The title of the film even indicates as much; one definition for a requiem is "a piece of music written in honor of a dead person", so the title essentially means "Death Song for a Dream". The most clear-cut and heartbreaking example of this is likely [[spoiler:the very end of the film, where a now-very-south-of-sanity Sara retreats into her HappyPlace, where she envisions herself in her red dress winning the grand prize on Tappy's game show, with Harry as her guest of honor. They embrace and tearfully exchange declarations of love as the crowd erupts into a standing ovation.]] In any other context, it would be heartwarming; in this one, it's devastating.

* TragicDream: Although many prefer to simplify the film as having an [[DrugsAreBad "anti-drug"]] message, the real heart of the story is in the unrealistic and unattainable dreams of the characters that leads to the addiction. The title of the film even indicates as much; one definition for a requiem is "a piece of music written in honor of a dead person", which means the title more directly translates to "Death Song for a Dream". The most clear-cut and heartbreaking example of this is likely [[spoiler:the very end of the film, where a now-very-south-of-sanity Sara retreats into her HappyPlace, where she envisions herself in her red dress winning the grand prize on Tappy's game show, with Harry as her guest of honor. They embrace and tearfully exchange declarations of love as the crowd erupts into a standing ovation.]] In any other context, it would be heartwarming; in this one, it's devastating.

* TragicDream: Although many prefer to simplify the film as having an [[DrugsAreBad "anti-drug"]] message, the real heart of the story is in the unrealistic and unattainable dreams of the characters that leads to the addiction. The most clear-cut and heartbreaking example of this is likely [[spoiler:the very end of the film, where a now-very-south-of-sanity Sara retreats into her HappyPlace, where she envisions herself in her red dress winning the grand prize on Tappy's game show, with Harry as her guest of honor. They embrace and tearfully exchange declarations of love as the crowd erupts into a standing ovation.]] In any other context, it would be heartwarming; in this one, it's devastating.

* JitterCam: Used [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools quite effectively and rather disturbingly]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6YLT1yoNec the scene]] where Harry and Tyrone's cries of pain and pleas for help almost harmonize, with the jitters being accompanied by distortion noises and getting more intense as the screams get louder.

* SexSlave: [[spoiler:Marion at the end, in a horrifyingly realistic example of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_prostitution forced prostitution.]]]]

''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 psychological drama film co-written and directed by Creator/DarrenAronofsky, and adapted from the 1978 novel of the same name by Creator/HubertSelbyJr (who co-wrote the film's script), which it has [[AdaptationDisplacement considerably eclipsed in terms of public recognition and pop culture impact alike]]. The film revolves around three friends and one friend's mother, who over the course of nine months (summer, fall, winter) experience various forms of drug addiction.

** [[spoiler: Another prison guard ([[CreatorCameo played by Creator/HubertSelbyJr]]) amuses himself by taunting Tyrone as he works in a hot kitchen while undergoing heroin withdrawal]].

** Also Marion's desperate attempts to get high by drinking everything in the bathroom.
** Sara's recurring hallucinations about her refrigerator coming to life and attacking her eventually turn into a montage where the characters on the TV come to life and humiliate her in her own apartment.

* TragicDream: Although many prefer to simplify the film as having an [[DrugsAreBad "anti-drug"]] message, the real heart of the story is in the unrealistic and unattainable dreams of the characters that leads to the addiction. The most clear-cut and [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] example of this is likely [[spoiler:the very end of the film, where a now-very-south-of-sanity Sara retreats into her HappyPlace, where she envisions herself in her red dress winning the grand prize on Tappy's game show, with Harry as her guest of honor. They embrace and tearfully exchange declarations of love as the crowd erupts into a standing ovation.]] In any other context, it would be heartwarming; in this one, it's devastating.

** Marion's smile, as she holds her stash at the end.

* DrugsAreBad: Generally thought to be the sum total of the story's message, though the larger theme is more about the sad, naive, and unrealistic dreams that brought about the addiction.
* ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture: What ECT is essentially depicted as. The treatment is part of the film's climactic MadnessMontage and is suitably terrifying.

* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Harry and Tyrone are not good people, being anti-heroes at best, but Harry really does love his mother and feels guilty for treating her badly, and it's shown that Tyrone still thinks about his mother frequently.

** Harry: [[spoiler:Has his arm amputated, his relationships with Marion and his mother completely destroyed, and separated (possibly permanently so) from Tyrone, the only friend he has left.]]
** Marion: [[spoiler:Ends up in a horrid cycle of forced prostitution where she exchanges sex for drugs, but the sex acts she's required to perform for that exchange are so degrading, she needs drugs just to cope with it.]]
** Tyrone: [[spoiler:Is forced to serve out his sentence in prison, doing hard labor while going through heroin withdrawal and being abused by racist guards. His future is uncertain]].
** Sara: [[spoiler:Is institutionalized with methamphetamine psychosis. The ECT ''is'' implied to work, as she's not wandering around in a confused, blurry nightmare anymore, but it's not enough to save her sanity, and without any incentive to even try to be part of the real world, she retreats into her own mind permanently]].

* GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply: The drug plot involves Harry and Tyrone taking their own drugs to, at first, "know how it feels like" (yes, because they want to be ''real'' honest when peddling their stuff), and this eventually led to them using all of their product, and thus leading to trouble with their supplier and SanitySlippage.

* NoAntagonist: All the damage caused to the protagonists is done by themselves. There's plenty of ''villains'', though.

* SeasonalBaggage: Used with the seasons summer, fall, and winter to represent the three act structure of the movie, as well as a parallel for the destruction that drugs are doing to the lives of the characters. The conspicuous lack of any ''spring'' in the movie is equally significant.

* ShownTheirWork: Pretty much the entire movie in its treatment of drug abuse, but Sara's story deserves special mention. Addiction to pharmaceuticals is the most common type of drug addiction (outside of alcoholism, anyway), and her descent is actually pretty typical, give or take a TV and red dress obsession. Pill addicts very often begin their habit when they start taking more than the proper dosage, either because they've grown tolerant and need more to get the same effect, or because they think their condition will improve faster if they do, and a person is more likely to abuse ''any'' drug they take if they're isolated, lonely, or bored.

* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: As in most films, electroconvulsive therapy is portrayed incredibly negatively (and thus, largely inaccurately). ECT is used (in conjunction with prescription sedatives) to treat a variety of psychiatric disorders, including depression, with varying degrees of success, and while it can and absolutely has been abused, it's not supposed to be. It's actually meant to be undergone under general anesthesia.

* DescentIntoAddiction: Three of the four main characters undergo this. Creator/DarrenAronofsky stated that he was attempting to explore the parallels between different types of addiction in the film:

Harry Goldfarb (Creator/JaredLeto) is a twenty-something Brooklyn drug addict, who routinely earns money by stealing and pawning the TV of his long-suffering widowed mother Sara (Creator/EllenBurstyn). Sara is a timid and lonely shell of a woman who lives in a permanent state of denial; her only concerns are hiding her son's condition from the world as much as from herself, being accepted by the neighborhood's women, and watching a television self-help infomercial show almost continually.

Meanwhile, Sara receives a phone call stating she'll have a chance to appear on television. Already somewhat mad from loneliness, she becomes fixated on fitting into her favorite red dress for the occasion (the one she wore to Harry's high school graduation). Failing to keep up with her diet, Sara sees [[DrFeelgood a no-questions-asking dealer doctor]] who prescribes a regimen of extreme diet pills [[NotUsingTheZWord that are heavily implied to be methamphetamine]], which she quickly begins to abuse.

* BedlamHouse: {{Downplayed}} with the hospital Sara ends up at - it's relatively well-maintained (if spartan) and the staff are "merely" callous toward the patients rather than outright sadistic. It's still a pretty miserable place to be. [[FromBadToWorse And then the ECT happens.]]

-->-- '''Empire''''s Top 10 Most Depressing Movies (this is #1)

Harry Goldfarb (Creator/JaredLeto) is a twenty-something Brooklyn drug addict, who routinely steals his long-suffering mother's TV to pawn it for money. His widowed mother, Sara (Creator/EllenBurstyn), is a timid and lonely shell of a woman who lives in a permanent state of denial. Her only concerns are hiding her son's condition from the world as much as from herself, being accepted by the neighborhood's women, and watching a television self-help infomercial show almost continually.

Given the film's reputation as one of the most depressing and disturbing films ever made, you can probably infer [[DescentIntoAddiction where it]] [[ForegoneConclusion goes next]].

* ArcWords: "Come" is used often towards the end of the film, with different meanings.
** The last time we see Harry and Marion talking together is over the phone, with Marion asking if Harry will ever ''come'' back.
** The MadnessMontage has [[spoiler:the audience at Marion's sex show chanting "Cum!" overlayed with everyone else's horrible fates]].
** Harry's final scene has his nurse telling him that Marion will ''come'', and he breaks down in tears, knowing it's not true.

* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVIRcnlRKF8 Lux Aeterna.]]

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Although the movie is criticized for its 'inaccurate' portrayal of mental institutions and medical procedures, the sad fact is that for the 60s and 70s American medical system — the book being written in the 70s — everything shown in the movie was possible; what nowadays would be called disgusting mistreatment and abuse of patient autonomy was a common occurrence in state-sanctioned mental institutions which were under-staffed and used dated methods based on rudimentary psychiatric knowledge.[[note]]And back in the 50s, things were even ''worse''.[[/note]] Remember, this was the era when a praised doctor and professor of medicine would travel the country giving mentally unresponsive patients lobotomies [[BodyHorror with only an ice pick through the orbital lobe... and no anesthetic]]!

** Marion curled up in a ball in the bathtub and shrieking is taken straight out of ''Anime/PerfectBlue''.
** During the scene when Tyrone and Harry are in the crowd, trying to get the drug shipment from Florida, one of the dealers is shown peeling an orange. This is a reference to ''Film/TheGodfather'' and the use of oranges as foreshadowing to something bad about to happen. They don't get their drugs, and the next sequence is Winter.

* TroubledFetalPosition: Unsurprisingly occurs at least once as things go downhill for the main characters. Happens for all of them at the end of the film. One of the ones mid-film, done by Marion, is a frame-for-frame recreation of a scene in ''Anime/PerfectBlue''.

* AloofAlly: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Mr. Rabinowitz is all too aware of the issues surrounding Sara and Harry, especially since Harry always shows up at his pawn local to sell her run-down TV set; this doesn't stop him from accepting his offers to buy it even if he never hides his disgust toward Harry's actions. However, in a later scene with Sara, Rabinowitz makes the suggestion to simply call the police on Harry to stop his bad habits which she shuts down in a manner implying ''they've had this conversation plenty of times before''.

''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 psychological drama film co-written and directed by Creator/DarrenAronofsky. The film revolves around three friends and one friend's mother, who over the course of nine months (summer, fall, winter) experience various forms of drug addiction. The film was adapted from the 1978 novel of the same name by Creator/HubertSelbyJr (who co-wrote the film's script), which it has [[AdaptationDisplacement considerably eclipsed in terms of public recognition and pop culture impact alike]].

-->''Requiem for a Dream'' is not about heroin or about drugs… The Harry-Tyrone-Marion story is a very traditional heroin story. But putting it side by side with the Sara story, we suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, what is a drug?' The idea that the same inner monologue goes through a person's head when they're trying to quit drugs, as with cigarettes, as when they're trying to not eat food so they can lose 20 pounds, was really fascinating to me. I thought it was an idea that we hadn't seen on film and I wanted to bring it up on the screen.''

* DownerEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion But of course.]] [[spoiler: All four main characters lose absolutely everything and, with the possible exception of Tyrone, have no chance of recovery. Harry is alone in a hospital with his arm amputated knowing he will never see his loved ones again, Tyrone is left to suffer abuse from racist guards while going through heroin withdrawal, Marion is left in ViciousCycle of prostituting herself for drugs she needs to cope with the degrading sex acts, and Sara, now insane from ECT, permanently retreats into her mind where she imagines herself winning the grand prize on her favorite show while embracing a loving and successful Harry.]] The only circumstance where one might consider rewatching is in the event they are considering doing drugs.

** At the end, when Marion is forced to perform sexually with another stripper in degrading manners intercut with Sara's electroshock treatments, Tyrone being made to do hard labor in prison all the while suffering the hell that is withdrawal, and Harry being prepped for surgery to amputate his arm. As the montage keeps going, there starts to be less and less time between each cut, until it reaches the point where each one only shows for a few seconds and they blend into a single barely sensible cacophony...

%%* MoralGuardians: Many critics apparently didn't watch the movie past Summer and thought this movie's message was DrugsAreGood.

* DownerEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion But of course.]] [[spoiler: All 4 main characters lose absolutely everything and, with the possible exception of Tyrone, have no chance of recovery. Harry is alone in a hospital with his arm amputated knowing he will never see his loved ones again, Tyrone is left to suffer abuse from racist guards while going through heroin withdrawal, Marion is left in ViciousCycle of prostituting herself for drugs she needs to cope with the degrading sex acts, and Sara, now insane from ECT, permanently retreats into her mind where she imagines herself winning the grand prize on her favorite show while embracing a loving and successful Harry.]] The only circumstance where one might consider rewatching is in the event they are considering doing drugs.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Harry, Tyrone, and Marion decide to [[GettingHighOnTheirOwnSupply get high off the heroin they planned to sell]], partially to test its quality and partially due to being addicts. This leads to them using all of it instead of selling it.

* DownerEnding: [[ForegoneConclusion But of course.]] You ''really'' won't want to try drugs after this ending. Hell, life itself may be too much for you after it. It's one of those movies you may not want to see more than once.

Harry Goldfarb (Creator/JaredLeto) is a twenty-something Brooklyn drug addict, who routinely steals his long-suffering mother's TV to pawn it for money. His mother, Sara (Creator/EllenBurstyn), is a timid and lonely shell of a woman who lives in a permanent state of denial. Her only concerns are hiding her son's condition from the world as much as from herself, being accepted by the neighborhood's women, and watching a television self-help infomercial show almost continually.

** There's a brief one for Sara at the hospital. The young intern correctly identifies her condition as being due to amphetamine overdose and malnourishment, and tries to get her the proper treatment. His decision is overruled by more senior physicians who run the ward like a factory and put all patients exhibiting psychiatric symptoms through ECT without bothering with diagnosis or attempting more effective (but time-consuming) treatments.