Requiem for a Dream is a 1978 novel by American writer Hubert Selby Jr. that concerns four New Yorkers whose lives spiral out of control as they succumb to their addictions.

[1] This story follows the lives of Sara Goldfarb, her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion Kleinmitz, and his best friend Tyrone C. Love, who are all searching for the key to their dreams in their own ways.

When a phone call from a game show casting company gets her hopes up, she goes to a doctor, who gives her diet pills to lose weight.

She spends the next few months on the pills, wanting desperately to look thin on TV and fit into a red dress from her younger days.

The film was directed by Darren Aronofsky and stars Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans and Ellen Burstyn.