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Requiem for a Dream

(2000, Rated R, Drama, Starring Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Connelly, Jared Leto)

  • Is it age appropriate?

    About our ratings

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    Not age appropriate for kids under 16, age appropriate for kids over 18; suggested age 16.

  • Is it any good?

    3.0

  • Common Sense says

    Shocking, grim addiction saga worth discussing.

Why We Rated This iffy for Ages 16–18

What to watch out for

  • Messages:

    Principal characters are all doomed addicts and drug users, and their ethnicity and circumstances seem to cut across all genders and ages -- it could happen to anyone, is the implicit message. Nobody here makes a move to save themselves either, though their personal goals are empowerment, not the inevitable self-destruction. Ironically, drug dealer-addict Harry disapproves (quite rightfully) his mother taking diet pills.

  • Violence:

    Shootings, some at close range. Jailhouse beatings. A violent fantasy about stabbing a character through the hand with a fork. One character's arm develops ghastly, oozing wounds from his IV drug-use needle injections. Another is strapped, force-fed, and electrocuted in a hellish medical environment.

  • Sex:

    Brief, full-frontal female nudity (in some versions). One character is sexually active with her therapist, her boyfriend, and her pusher. In the unrated version she ultimately descends into full-blown prostitution and performs degrading sex acts -- which aren't shown in clear detail, but you get the idea --- with other women before a live audience. Another couple seen naked having intercourse in profile.

  • Language:

    Frequent use of the F-word/MF-word, the S-word, "bitch," and "ass."

  • Consumerism:

    One character's mad devotion to a TV game show is key to the plot, though the show is not real.

  • Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

    Heroin use, cigarette smoking, and abuse of diet pills (amphetamines) are the central subject. Quick, punchy editing, macrophotography, and rhythmic cuts try to convey the jittery exhilaration of the narcotics. It's hardly intended as a favorable portrayal, of course.
 

What Parents Need to Know

About Requiem for a Dream

Parents need to know that drug abuse permeates this downbeat drama about people in seemingly hopeless descents. As a final descent into degradation one girl performs in a grotesque lesbian stage-sodomy act to continue getting her heroin -- the "edited version" only cuts out a few microseconds of this. Both versions of this film have enough language, explicit sex, violence, blood, and nudity (included female full-frontal) to merit an R. Both versions try with hypnotic imagery and music to capture both the allure and the insidious damage of intoxicants.

Did this review help you decide?

Families Can Talk About

  • Families can talk about the effects of drug addition, in real life and in the media, running the gamut from The Man With the Golden Arm to Trainspotting to countless preachy After-School Specials and even superhero comic books. How effective is Requiem for a Dream as a cautionary tale? Do you think any mere film has the power to change or dissuade an addict? What do kids think of Sarah's "legal" addiction compared to the unlawful activities of the reckless Harry, Marion, and Tyrone? Why do so many real-life celebrities fall into traps of drug habits? You could try to get adventurous readers to tackle the difficult source novel by Hubert Selby Jr. -- but watch out, it's rough, raw stuff too.
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