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Requiem For a Dream  is a 1978 novel and film released in the year 2000.  The novel was written by Hubert Selby Jr., while the film was directed by Darren Aronofky.  The film was something of a critical success.  Here is some information about both versions.

requiem for a dream

First let’s look at the novel.  It follows four people all with some relationship to each other.  The group is Harry, Marion, Tyrone and Sara.  Harry and Marion date.  Tyrone is their friend.  Finally, there’s Sara who is Harry’s mom.  Every one of them is controlled by some dream.  They all become addicted to something in the pursuit of their dreams.  Sara is obsessed with becoming a TV star.  She binges on diet pills to lose weight after a casting company hints that she might be selected.  Finally she overdoses on the pills.  Harry, Marion, and Tyrone meanwhile make money by selling heroin.  They start using more heroin than they sell.  Every character does badly.

Sara and Harry are the focus in the movie, but Marion and Tyrone still appear.  The plot follows the novel fairly closely.  Also like the novel it takes place during three consecutive seasons – summer, fall, and winter.

Sara spends the summer watching infomercials.  She has nothing to do but eat.  That makes your fat in her opinion.  But her life gains new purpose when the producers of the infomercial call her to tell her she may be on the infomercial.  She vows to fit into the red dress she once wore to Harry’s graduation.  She takes up an aggressive diet.  A doctor gives her some amphetamines to help her lose weight.  She takes to many, addiction develops.  It makes her grind her teeth.

requiem for a dream movie

Harry and Tyrone become drug dealers.  Their goal is to one day be able to afford a pound of pure heroin.  Marion plans to use Harry’s money to purchase a store where she can sell her clothing designs.  Tyrone simply wants enough money to earn a life off the street.

Sara’s addiction is even worse in the fall.  As the dose she has been taking is no longer effective, she begins increasing the dosage.  This soon causes her to hallucinate both about being on the infomercial and about her refrigerator moving through her house.  Harry and Tyrone get arrested.  They have to use what they earned in the summer to bail Tyrone our of jail.  They begin to use more of their product themselves.

As expected it’s a sad ending.  In winter things spiraled to their lowest point.  Harry ends up in the hospital after falling off the roof of a building,  Sara is institutionalized, Tyrone is in jail, and Marion is hopelessly addicted to heroin.  Everyone except Harry ends up hallucinating a fantasy world.

requem for a dream

Requiem for a Dream is more of a nightmare for the characters in it.

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