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Requiem for a Dream
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MPAA Rating: NC-17
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Entertainment: +1
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Content: -4
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Originally earning an NC-17, the film is being released as not rated. This powerful and disturbing drama about addiction will probably earn Ellen Burstyn an Oscar nomination. She plays Sara Goldfarb, a lonely widow in Brooklyn whose only pastimes are watching TV and gossiping with other apartment tenants. Saras grown son, Harry (Jared Leto), and his friend, Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), periodically confiscate Saras TV, taking it to the neighborhood pawnshop for money to buy drugs. When Sara receives a phone call that shes been chosen as a candidate for a TV quiz show, her whole life brightens. But first she must lose 50 pounds to fit into a beautiful red dress she wore long ago. Her friends direct her to a diet doctor who supplies her with pills that will do the job. Meanwhile Harry and Tyrone connect with a drug lord who offers them a distributorship. In a few weeks all three, plus Harrys girlfriend, Marian (Jennifer Connelly), become hopelessly entangled in a world of kaleidoscopic, drug-induced hallucinations. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is not for the faint of heart as it pulls no punches in portraying the scary, depressing nightmare horrors of drug abuse.
Horrific images show Saras humiliating, pathetic fight to regain control of her mind and body. Because of drugs, she becomes an involuntary psychiatric patient, force-fed through her nose and subjected to brutal shock treatments. Harry is shown injecting drugs into an infected vein which later becomes gangrenous. He and his partner are thrown into jail with every indication that they will die there. Marian prostitutes herself for drugs. The powerful drug lord forces her to have unconventional sex and perform disgusting sex acts in front of a live audience. These degrading, explicit scenes plus graphic sex scenes with Harry and others between Tyrone and his partner include female breast, rear male and female rear nudity. Marian is also shown standing nude from the waist down before a mirror. Not surprising, filthy words permeate the script with 42 obscenities and 14 regular profanities. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM most definitely cant be recommended, but it might scare straight anyone even considering playing with drugs.
Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Artisan Entertainment, 2700 Colorado Ave., 2nd Flr., Santa Monica, CA 90404
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Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.
Crude Language: Many (10) times Mild 2, Moderate 8
Obscene Language: Many (42) times - F-word 24, s-word 17, other 1
Profanity: Many (14) times Regular (C-sake 8, GD 3, C 2, J 1)
Violence: Few times Moderate (gun threats, shots fired during drug deal)
Sex: Few times (couple in elevator w/o nudity; nude couple in bed, girl performs sex acts in public for drugs); Implied unconventional sex
Nudity: Several times (female breast and rear male in sex scenes; female frontal from waist down)
Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many times (couples caress, groping, fondling)
Drugs: Continuous drug use (elderly woman pops diet pills, young men and woman use and deal in drugs; man injects drugs into gangrenous vein; addicts hallucinate)
Other: Psychiatric patient force fed through nose and given shock treatments; son expresses concern for his mother
Running Time: 102 minutes
Intended Audience: Adults
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