The Experiment
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
- drama
- thriller
The story
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.
What it’s like
Hard concrete surfaces and sickly, low-key light: the film is shot largely inside a mock prison built in a disused space, so the palette runs to grey concrete, tan and rust-brown steel, flat fluorescent tubes and the occasional bare bulb throwing hard shadows. The camera is restless and close, handheld and tight in cramped corridors and cells, with a documentary immediacy that makes the walls feel like they are closing in. Sound is mostly industrial hum, barked orders, clanging doors and a sparse, tense score that swells only when the violence arrives. Its vibe is claustrophobic unease tipping into dread, the kind of film that suits a late evening when you are willing to sit with discomfort. The pacing starts with a playful, almost jaunty tension and steadily tightens into a grim spiral, and its emotional register is bleak and morally fraught, following ordinary men as their roles strip them of restraint. Intensity is high: there is frequent physical brutality, humiliation and cruelty, including some sexual threat and blood, and the violence lands hard and unflinchingly rather than as stylised spectacle. It is not gentle and does not suit anyone seeking comfort. It is for viewers who want a serious, uncomfortable study of power and obedience, and who can tolerate sustained brutality.
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