This film will leave you trembling

Rating: 9/10 (15 September 2001)

The off-puttingly titled Requiem For a Dream is the second feature from Darren Aronofsky who made his debut with 1998's Pi, a dark tale of mathematics, madness and mysticism. The enduring image from Pi was that of spirals. Requiem examines another spiral - the inexorable descent of addiction.
The film, set in present day New York, tells the story of Sara Goldfarb (Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn), a plump middle-aged widow who spends most of her time watching television and, after receiving a promotional phone call, becomes convinced that she is to appear on it. Meanwhile, her wayward junkie son Harry (Jared Leto) and his girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) attempt to set themselves up as drug dealers with partner-in-crime Tyrone (Marlon Wayans).
Whilst remaining generally faithful to Hubert Selby Jr's 1978 novel, Aronofsky litters the film with a dazzling array of visual flourishes. The split-screen effect which he uses to introduce us to Sara and Harry Goldfarb suggests a little heavy-handedly the divide which has grown between mother and son. For the most part, however, he employs audacious technique to uncommonly good effect. The repetitive cycle of addiction is echoed in brisk montages of pill-popping, TV-tuning, joint-rolling and shooting up. Requiem's increasingly frenetic camerawork and editing mirror the skewed vision of its ever more drug-crazed protagonists, whilst its evocative string score brings out the tragedy of their lives.
Requiem has been accused of perpetuating heroin chic, but the beauty of the young addicts and Sara's pathetic attempt to slim down for her imagined TV appearance merely emphasise the hollowness of the beautiful shell. What shines through is the humanity of the characters, thanks to touching performances, in particular from Burstyn who gives the most haunting and unforgettable performance of the year.
What sets Requiem apart most from other junkie movies such as Trainspotting and Drugstore Cowboy is that it is utterly unrelenting. This is no road to Damascus - the only light at the end of the tunnel is the shaky fluorescent bulb at the end of the hospital corridor. Happy endings only happen in the facile daytime TV trash that Sara consumes as compulsively as the diet pills to which she becomes addicted. Rather than offering redemption or hope, the dénouement strips the characters entirely of what little dignity they may have retained as the world around them looks on with cold indifference.
As the film reaches its conclusion, the quick-cut montages gain in speed and the sounds are intensified. The result is a full scale assault on the senses that builds up into a crescendo of pure cinematic horror. Requiem has left audiences trembling. This is not an entertaining film - it is an ordeal. But it will remind blasé and complacent audiences that although now habitual parts of everyday life, drugs have not lost their power to destroy lives and cinema, when it doesn't compromise itself, has not lost its ability to shock.