Film Archive

Experiment, The (Experiment, Das)

When former journalist Tarek Fahd, who presently drives a cab in the German town of Cologne, stumbles upon a newspaper ad looking for volunteers for a psychological experiment, he convinces his former boss to commission him to report undercover about the experiment, which seems to be partly funded by the army. Just before Tarek enters the experiment and agrees to live in a mock prison for two weeks, waiving his civil rights, his taxi is hit one night by the car of a young and beautiful woman. Dora has just lost her father, and she and Tarek spend a night together. But the next morning Dora has vanished and Tarek starts his "term" in the "prison" that has been built into the cellar of the university. In the beginning, everyone, "guards" and "prisoners" alike, take it as a game. When Tarek, who records the proceedings with a miniature camera hidden in his glasses, starts to provoke the "guards", the situation begins to get out of hand. But the psychologists, who keep a 24-hour surveillance on the experiment, decide not to intervene.
An unimaginable nightmare has begun. And the experiment turns into a matter of life and death...

Oliver Hirschbiegel scored a sensational success with the feature film The Experiment (Das Experiment, 2001). This exciting psycho-thriller drew more than 1.6 million spectators to the theaters and won many awards in Germany and abroad including, the Bavarian Film Award 2001, the Audience Award for the theatrical film of the year at the German Film Award presentation in 2001, Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2001, and the People´s Choice Award at the Istanbul International Film Festival in 2002, just to name a few. Hirschbiegel has been a major presence in the German television industry since the mid 1980s. He has directed thrillers and detective dramas, including various episodes of the detective series Rex – A Cop´s Best Friend and Tatort. Downfall (Der Untergang, 2004) is his third full-length feature film and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 in the category Best Foreign Language Film. A selection of his other award-winning films includes: Das Go! Projekt (TV, 1986), Rain City (Moerderische Entscheidung – Umschalten erwuenscht, TV, 1991), Trickser (TV, 1996), Rex – The Early Years (Rex – Die fruehen Jahre, TV, 1997), The Judgement (Das Urteil, TV, 1997), Mortal Friends (Todfeinde, TV, 1998), and My Last Film (Mein letzter Film, 2002).
 

Genre Drama, Psycho Thriller
Category Feature Film Cinema
Year of Production 2000
Director Oliver Hirschbiegel
Screenplay Don Bohlinger, Christoph Darnstaedt, Mario Giordano
Director of Photography Rainer Klausmann
Editor Hans Funck
Music by Alexander van Bubenheim
Production Design Uli Hanisch, Andrea Kessler
Producers Marc Conrad, Norbert Preuss, Fritz Wildfeuer
Production Companies Fanes Film/Munich, Typhoon Networks, Huerth, in co-production with Senator Film Produktion/Berlin, SevenPictures Film/Unterfoehring
Principal Cast Christian Berkel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Timo Dierkes, Justus von Dohnányi, Maren Eggert, Antoine Monot, Jr., Andrea Sawatzki, Edgar Selge, Oliver Stokowski
Casting An Dorthe Braker
Special Effects ARRI Digital/Munich
Length 120 min, 3,283 m
Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85
Dubbed Versions Italian
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions English, French
Sound Technology Dolby Digital
Festival Screenings Montreal 2001 (in competition), Sitges 2001, Bergen 2001, AFI Los Angeles 2001, Berlin 2002 (German Cinema), Gothenburg 2002
Awards Bavarian Film Prize 2001 for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, BOGEY 2001, German Film Awards 2001 for Best Leading Actor, Supporting Actor, Production Design and Audience Award, Best Direction Montreal 2001
With backing from German Federal Film Board (FFA), BKM, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
German Distributor Senator Film Verleih/Berlin

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