Kara Goble: Use of editing in Requiem for a Dream

(To the students in the ENG 281 film course--Kara's response is a good example of incorporating the course concepts into a respons to the film)

Use of editing in Requiem for a Dream



Films help to create a world for us - the viewer - whether realistic, idealistic, or impractical. Requiem for a Dream is an amazing example of creating a realistic world through the use of film editing. Director Darren Aronofsky’s use of editing in this film allows the viewer to get a closer look and gain a greater understanding of the life and mind of a drug addict and those affected around them. His editing shows the highs, lows, and finally the rock bottom of this lifestyle and the ease of addiction. Fear, panic, disorientation, dream states, disappointment, and feelings of ecstasy are shown throughout the entire film and are enhanced by the director’s editing techniques.

Aronofsky demonstrates the power of editing and packs as much as possible into his film. By speeding up the film in certain places, especially at the beginning of a “high”, he allows the viewer to understand the frantic feelings and effects that drugs have on a person. He illustrates the obsessive behaviors of an addict. His use of juxtaposition, or split screen editing, allows for two separate realities to be shown simultaneously. The most striking outcome of using the split screen is the allowance for separate character realities. Each character is created in their own reality, but they are connected and stem from the one similarity of drug use – they are the same yet different. Through editing, Aronofsky was able to focus on the critical details of the habits of drug use. The increase of blood flow shown by the blood cells rushing through the body, enlarged pupils shown by split screen, and frantic movement throughout the film all produce insight into this world.

Aronofsky does an amazing job of implementing continuity editing. The viewer is not distracted from the cuts, but remains attentive to the intricate details of the each scene. It seems it would be difficult to construct a film using split screens and other editing techniques. Films are supposed to run smoothly, efficiently relay a clear message, and allow for coherency of what the movie is all about. Aronofsky does an astonishing job with this type of editing because the characters and their situations are brought into a realistic view that the viewer can understand. His use of parallel editing in the film is incredible. He uses parallels to show the simultaneous actions of the mother taking the diet pills versus her son and his friends snorting, “shooting-up”, and smoking. These are similar actions taking place at different times and places and yet it allows for the connection that drug use is drug use no matter what the drug is. Creating a dream state and fading out into a bright white screen both help the viewer to gain even more insight to the experience of a “high”. These techniques let the viewer begin to understand that the occurring experience is pure and unique to each and every person.

Requiem for a Dream allows for insight into the life of a drug addict and does it accurately. The use of reasoning, denial, and rationalizing things to make them seem okay and the effect drug use has on a person’s life are made clear throughout the entire film. The main character’s ability to rationalize, taking his mother’s television to sell for drug money and her capability of reasoning that taking diet pills are okay, begin a long journey for these characters. The dreams of the characters seem to fade away as the drug addictions begin to become a larger part of their lives.

Aronofsky does a remarkable job in creating a reality and in helping the viewer understand the world of a drug addict. The representation of a drug addict’s existence is very precise in this film and one would agree even more had they personal experience in dealing with addicts. The uses of these different styles of editing and actual reality make this film so fundamental that you really need only to watch it once.