Requiem for sleep

Oscars 2001 - nomination: Best Leading Actress (Ellen Burstyn) Golden Globes 2001 - nomination: Best Actress in a Drama (Ellen Burstyn)

A harrowing and emotionally devastating film by Darren Aronofsky, creator of Pi and Source. Undoubtedly one of the greatest cinematic events of the turn of the century.

Requiem for Sleep tells the story of four characters from Coney Island: a petty drug dealer, his pill-swallowing mother, girlfriend and best friend. They all dream of a better world and want to escape reality at all costs. The film adaptation of the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., is a Danthean expedition of the four protagonists to a hell of illusions and deeply hidden desires. Aronofsky charts the ups and downs of people desperately trying to realize their desires in present-day Brooklyn. However, the heroes' hopes for variety in their lives are dreams that have no chance of coming true. Unable to cope with the world around them, they flee from reality into addictions, such as drugs, sweets, television or cigarettes.

Darren Aronofsky on his film: The story told in Requiem for Sleep is timeless. Being an addict has accompanied man since he appeared on earth. Therefore, the action of the film does not happen at any specific time. This is a story about people who jump out of a plane and suddenly - between heaven and earth - realize that they do not have parachutes. The film tells of their journey down - to the moment when their bodies hit the ground.