Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald, and Marlon Wayans.

Aronofsky was enthusiastic about the story and developed the script with Selby, despite initial struggles to obtain funding for the film's production.

When Sara receives a call that she has been invited to appear on her favorite game show, she begins a restrictive crash diet, hoping to fit into a red dress that she wore at Harry's graduation.

When Harry recognizes the signs of her drug abuse and implores her to stop taking the amphetamines, Sara insists that the chance to appear on television and the increased admiration from her friends Ada and Rae are her remaining reasons to live.

Eventually, Tyrone hears of a large shipment coming to New York from Florida, but the price has doubled and the minimum purchase risk is high.

Sara's increased dosage of amphetamines distorts her sense of reality, and she begins to hallucinate that she is mocked by the host and crowd from the television show, and attacked by her refrigerator.

Sara's disturbed state causes her to be admitted to a psychiatric ward, where she fails to respond to various medications, and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy.

Back in New York City, a desperate Marion begins to work for a pimp, Big Tim, and participates in group sex for drugs.

Sara's treatment leaves her in a catatonic state of dissociation, to the horror of her friends Ada and Rae, who weep and try to comfort each other on a bench outside the hospital.

Harry's arm is amputated above the elbow, and he breaks down in tears as he realizes Marion will not visit him (despite a gentle nurse trying to reassure him that she will come).

Tyrone is subjected to grueling labor and psychological abuse from the racist prison guards, all while experiencing a painful heroin withdrawal.

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.

Ellen Burstyn also initially rejected the part due to the depressing content, but her manager convinced her to see Aronofsky's previous work; she was impressed and agreed to be cast in the lead role.

[8][13][14] Giovanni Ribisi, Neve Campbell and Dave Chappelle were considered for the roles of Harry Goldfarb, Marion Silver and Tyrone C. Love, respectively.

[16] In preparation for filming, Leto spent time living on the streets of New York, surrounded by people who were in the same situation as his character.

Connelly isolated herself, painted, listened to music that she thought Marion would, designed clothes, and used the time to reflect about addictions and their origin.

Filming lasted 40 days[13] from 19 April to 16 June 1999, on location in and around Coney Island, including the boardwalk, amusement parks and Brighton Beach.

[27] The camerawork forces the viewer to explore the characters' states of mind, hallucinations, visual distortions, and inaccurate sense of time.

[31] The track "Lux Aeterna" is an orchestral composition by Mansell, the leitmotif of Requiem for a Dream, and the penultimate piece in the film's soundtrack.

The critical consensus states, "Though the film may be too intense for some to stomach, the wonderful performances and the bleak imagery are hard to forget.

[43] Elvis Mitchell, writing for The New York Times, gave the film a positive review, stating, "After the young director's phenomenal debut with the barely budgeted Pi, which was like watching a middleweight boxer win a fight purely on reflexes, he comes back with a picture that shows maturation".

It's absolutely relentless, from Aronofsky's bravura cinematic techniques (split screens, complex cross-cutting schemes, hallucinatory visuals) to Clint Mansell's driving, hypnotic score (performed by the Kronos Quartet), the movie compels you to watch it".

Dessen Howe of The Washington Post opined that the characters are "mostly relegated to human mannequins in Aronofsky's visual schemes", but praised Burstyn's performance.

[38] David Sterritt of the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "the filmmaking gets addicted to its own flashy cynicism... the picture sometimes seems as dazed and confused as the situations it wants to criticize".

[49] William Arnold, writing for Seattle Post-Intelligencer, stated, "Aronofsky hurls the full grammar of the cinema at us like a film student on an adrenaline rush: slow-motion, fast-forward, jump cuts, surreal fantasy sequences, endless glaring close-ups of dilating pupils, bizarre hand-held tracking shots through the mean streets".

[50] Some critics characterize Requiem for a Dream in the genre of "drug movies", along with films such as The Basketball Diaries, Trainspotting, Spun, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.