One of the most revolting dishonest movies I have watched in my life
As a person who dedicated his life to the academic study of drugs, I find this movie revolting on so many levels, giving a grotesque and misguided image to the topic of drug use, ECT, prescription medications etc. The only place where I am not sure how wrong it is was in its portrayal of the American prison system.
The movie is very very cleverly made, I'll give Aronofsky that, but at the same time it is totally politically irresponsible, playing to the hands of those who brought on the war on drugs with its inane "just say no" slogan - which brought us where we are today (this should be changed to 'just say know' and a politics of honest information). By spreading misinformation about drug use, and drug users, Aronofsky is contributing to their dehumanization and to the repressive politics which cause such sad stories in the first place.
The truth is most people who use amphetamines or even heroin lead a normal life. The numbers of casualties of the kind shown in the film would be much smaller if not for the prosecution of users, which leads to their social marginalization and to dangerous forms of drug use.
Even if you buy in to the BS which is spread about how drug users inevitably turn into sub-human monsters of the type portrayed in the film, you can read more about ECT, and find out it is a psychiatric practice which is very far from it's shocking image. In reality, the ugly image of ECT, which mostly stemmed from its false association with electrocution, led to its banning in the US, despite being one of the most useful techniques for curing of various types of mental illness (and a less intrusive intervention than many types of anti-psychotic medications). This historical episode ended up, btw, with psychiatric patients begging to be allowed to receive ECT treatment and having to go to the courts to have their right to this form of treatment, because the bad image around it caused it to become illegal.
But Aronofsky doesn't care about that. He just wants his movie to be as powerful as it can be, using any type of manipulation possible, and damn the political consequences.
People in this message board were asking how come the doctor gave the Sara Goldfarb more medication although she appeared so incredibly confused in the meeting with him. People, get real! This is a movie as far away and detached from reality as the next spiderman flick. Instead of raising such questions, a scene like that should tell you about the highly dishonest character of the movie itself.
I am sure in the climate of ignorance which still exists around this subjects most readers of this message will think it is detached from reality. I invite you to check out Professor Carl Hart's interview in the Joe Roegan show on YouTube. This is just the kind of thing he is talking about when he says perceptions of drugs have been badly and harmfully dramatized and distorted by the news and media industry for the purposes of profit. Check prof. Carl Hart out, if you want to get some solid information about drugs and drug users in the real world, instead of this pack of insidious, manipulative lies.