--- title: "Requiem for a Dream: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/requiem-for-a-dream/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/requiem-for-a-dream" critics_score: 69 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Requiem for a Dream (2000): what the critics said Critics' score 69 from 11 reviews: 8 positive, 0 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics admire this film, and eight of the eleven reviews are positive. The praise gathers around Aronofsky’s technique: the split screens, the rapid montages and the extreme close-ups that put the audience inside the addicts’ heads, and a refusal to moralise about what it shows. Ellen Burstyn’s performance is the other point of agreement, named by several reviews as the film’s centre, with one also praising Jennifer Connelly. Nearly all describe it as grim and harrowing, and mean that as a compliment. There is no middle ground; the three dissenters dislike it outright. Empire argues the technical flair smothers the characters under crash cuts and montages of misery. Variety, reviewing from the festival circuit, finds the craft formidable but the material something few viewers will want to look at. Slant Magazine, writing two decades later, calls it melodramatic and propagandistic, with the later flourishes lazy. The spread is wide, with little in between. ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 October 2000. Aronofsky’s film is as unremittingly bleak as it is brilliant, a harrowing work that demands viewers submit to its vision of self-deception and addiction’s destructive force. The director’s command of the medium and his actors keeps the audience riveted, resulting in a work of art whose beauty offers a kind of redemption. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-20-ca-39148-story.html) ## Time Out — NF Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 July 2015. The film is a visually experimental and thematically uncompromising adaptation of Hubert Selby's novel, matching the intensity of Aronofsky's debut Pi. Its relentless sensory assault and visceral images effectively capture the highs and rituals of addiction while highlighting parallels between different forms of dependency. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/requiem-for-a-dream) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 November 2000. The film excels at depicting the mental states of its addicts through subjective camerawork that shows how drugs briefly open a window into feeling right before it closes. Aronofsky uses extreme close-ups, split screens, and rapid montages to convey the highs, desperation, and rock-bottom fates of the four main characters in a hellish travelogue. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/requiem-for-a-dream-2000) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). Aronofsky's film is an extraordinarily intelligent and sophisticated exploration of addiction that ventures deeper into its causes and effects than almost any other movie. The director's visual techniques, refusal to moralize, and standout performances, especially Ellen Burstyn's, make it compelling and worth seeing despite its shocking content. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/requiem-for-a-dream-7433465.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. The critic describes Aronofsky's adaptation as an agonising and unflinchingly grim portrait of drug abuse, noting its masterful technique and formal precision in depicting the characters' descent. He praises the performances, especially Ellen Burstyn's, while observing the film's enigmatic, bleak outlook without clear redemption or moral resolution. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/19/2) ## The AV Club — Nathan Rabin Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 2000. Aronofsky's second film is a relentlessly grim but gripping and stylistically audacious tour de force that plunges into human misery with more ambition than Pi. It excels in quiet moments, especially a lucid monologue from Ellen Burstyn revealing her character's unhappiness. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/requiem-for-a-dream-1798287764) ## Empire — William Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The film is a grim, predictable descent into addiction that adds little new to the genre and fails due to an excess of ideas rather than a lack. Aronofsky's technical flair from Pi is reproduced but ultimately smothers character development amid crash cuts and montages of misery. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/requiem-dream-review/) ## Slant Magazine — Matthew Noller Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 13 October 2020. The critic finds the film an accomplished but ultimately melodramatic and propagandistic descent into hell about the dangers of drugs, with its early stylistic flourishes impressive but later ones feeling lazy and obvious. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review-darren-aronofsky-requiem-for-a-dream-on-lionsgate-4k-ultra-hd/) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2000. Festival review. Aronofsky applies formidable talent and technique to off-putting material about addiction, confirming his promise with an imaginative approach to sight and sound but one that won’t prove appealing to many viewers. The elaborate visual strategies and montages are technically striking and powerful at the end but present nothing many people will want to look at. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2000/film/reviews/requiem-for-a-dream-1200462194/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 August 2001. The critic praises Aronofsky's adaptation as a remarkable work of significance, using inventive techniques like split screen and hip-hop montage to explore addiction without pretension. They single out Ellen Burstyn's performance as exceptionally pure and moving, likening it to watching the sky fall. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/requiem-for-a-dream-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## Polygon — Claire Lewis Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 27 October 2025. The critic views Requiem for a Dream as a horror film centered on inner demons and the horrors of drug addiction. She praises its beautiful cinematography, strong cast performances (highlighting Ellen Burstyn and Jennifer Connelly), and unflinchingly honest take on addiction despite the bleak subject matter. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/requiem-for-a-dream-25th-anniversary/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/requiem-for-a-dream.md