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The Experiment

2001 · 120 min

A slow, suffocating descent into cruelty that makes you squirm as ordinary people turn on each other under pressure.

Directed by
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Starring
Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Justus von Dohnányi
Tagline
You are invited to participate
Overview
20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Starring
Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Justus von Dohnányi
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • bleakstrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • power
  • violence
  • morality
  • isolation
  • corruption
Places
  • single country house
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • single location
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language strong
  • Violence strong
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror5
Humour2
Realism8
Romance2
Tension8
Darkness9
Complexity6
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, thriller
Directed by
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Written by
Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstädt, Mario Giordano
Starring
Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Justus von Dohnányi, Maren Eggert, Edgar Selge, Andrea Sawatzki, Oliver Stokowski, Wotan Wilke Möhring
Music
Alexander Bubenheim
Cinematography
Rainer Klausmann
Runtime
120 min
Country
Germany
Languages
German

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