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Experimenter

Play trailer Poster for Experimenter PG-13 Released Oct 16, 2015 1h 37m Biography History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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85% Tomatometer 82 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.
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Experimenter

Experimenter

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Critics Consensus

Led by a gripping performance from Peter Sarsgaard, Experimenter uses a fact-based story to pose thought-provoking questions about human nature.

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Critics Reviews

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David Thomson Film Comment Magazine This movie seems a radical step for Almereyda, and more attentive to the nature of the medium than anything he has attempted before. Nov 6, 2024 Full Review Peter Keough Boston Globe Mostly playful if occasionally pretentious ... Rated: 3/4 Oct 29, 2015 Full Review Matthew Lickona San Diego Reader There are a few feints at considerations of human nature, and a word is spoken in defense of obedience, but the film serves better to start a conversation than to draw a conclusion. Rated: 1/5 Oct 22, 2015 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand [Director Michael] Almereyda wants us to be aware that this is a fiction even as he explores the ideas with great intelligence and the life of Milgram with curiosity. May 6, 2023 Full Review Vadim Rizov Filmmaker Magazine This career overview is the surface text of Experimenter, and it’s a fascinating one; what’s going on formally is even more interesting. Jan 23, 2023 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review The result may leave some viewers emotionally cold toward the material, but our intellect is engaged in the engrossing subject and the absorbing way it was made. Rated: 3.5/4 May 3, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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j15j15j15 j ▣ https://band.us/band/89487216/post/12 @}>--->>* Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/05/24 Full Review Diana S A low-key film on a timely subject. I found the asides to the camera a bit annoying by the end. Also, I don't find the question Milgram asked so confounding. I saw a video of wolves robotically howling in response to other wolves howling, and I thought it was a perfect parody of humans. We aren't solitary creatures. We want to play a role in a community, and that instinct most often usurps our gift of higher reasoning. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/17/24 Full Review Jerod S Experimenter's subject is intriguing even if its delivery is rightfully dry. Not sure how else social experiments could have been made into a more effective or compelling movie... Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/20/23 Full Review Gareth v A solid telling of one of the most infamous pyschological studies ever conducted. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/23/23 Full Review Taylor L Back when he had hair, Peter Sarsgaard seemed like the dramatic version of Joel McHale to me. Don't know if it was the slightly similar voices or what. Experimenter is a biopic focusing on social psychologist Stanley Milgram, the famous and somewhat controversial organizer of experiments dealing in human obedience, which drew parallels to the choices made by thousands of supposedly reasonable people as they participated in atrocities such as the Holocaust. The film follows the creation of the original Milgram protocols, the responses to them by researchers and the public, and Milgram's own later work, told in a fourth-wall-breaking format that sees Milgram (Sarsgaard) frequently narrating his own experiences or speaking directly to the audience. The film gives particular priority to discussing the implications of the psychologist's work, and the unsettling notion that most people value conformity over compassion. As a discussion of the experiments themselves, Experimenter is pretty well done and Sarsgaard feels well-cast, though the meta elements (an elephant following him around intermittently, an 'elephant in the room'?) and the intentionally distant, academic dialogue may seem to be more alienating than insightful; for all the posturing, there isn't much more said beyond 'humans can behave far worse than we might like to admit'. Winona Ryder's character sort of slips into the background, and an interesting take on Milgram - where at points people around him can't tell whether he's being sincere or subjecting them to a social experiment - is never expanded upon. Dennis Haysbert gets dressed up in an Einstein wig, though. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review steve d Intense, well acted, scary, and thought provoking. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducts controversial experiments designed to measure conformity, conscience and free will.
Director
Michael Almereyda
Producer
Michael Almereyda, Fabio Golombek, Aimee Schoof, Isen Robbins, Danny A. Abeckaser, Per Melita
Screenwriter
Michael Almereyda
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Jeff Rice Films, BB Film Productions, Intrinsic Value Films, FJ Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Thematic Material|Brief Strong Language)
Genre
Biography, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 16, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 5, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$155.1K
Runtime
1h 37m
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