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The Experiment (2001)

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The Experiment

What to know.

Das Experiment 's knotty plot may not prove as revelatory as it promises, but it succeeds as an action film with a lot on its addled mind.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Moritz Bleibtreu

Maren Eggert

Christian Berkel

Justus von Dohnányi

Berus - Strafvollzugsbeamter

Oliver Stokowski

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The Experiment

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 115 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel
• Screenwriter: Mario Giordano, Christoph Darnstädt, Don Bohlinger
• Moritz Bleibtreu
• Christian Berkel
• Oliver Stokowski
• Wotan Wilke Möhring
• Stephan Szasz
• Justus von Dohnànyi
• Nicki von Tempelhoff
• Timo Dierkes
• Edgar Selge
• Andrea Sawatzki
• Maren Eggert

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Where to watch

The experiment, das experiment.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel

You are invited to participate

Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence — a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control.

Moritz Bleibtreu Christian Berkel Oliver Stokowski Wotan Wilke Möhring Stephan Szasz Andrea Sawatzki Polat Dal Danny Richter Ralf Müller Markus Rudolf Peter Fieseler Thorsten Dersch Sven Grefer Justus von Dohnányi Nicki von Tempelhoff Timo Dierkes Antoine Monot Jr. Lars Gärtner Jacek Klimontko Markus Klauk Ralph Püttmann Edgar Selge Philipp Hochmair Tristan Vostry Maren Eggert André Jung Uwe Rohde Heiner Lauterbach Fatih Akin Show All… Christiane Gerboth Klaus Spinnler

Director Director

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Producers Producers

Benjamin Herrmann Klaus Spinnler Norbert Preuss Friedrich Wildfeuer Marc Conrad

Writers Writers

Christoph Darnstädt Don Bohlinger

Original Writer Original Writer

Mario Giordano

Casting Casting

An Dorthe Braker

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Rainer Klausmann

Assistant Director Asst. Director

Isabel Kleefeld

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Philip Evenkamp

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Moritz Bleibtreu

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Stefan Biebl

Art Direction Art Direction

Kai Koch Uli Hanisch

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Andrea Kessler

Special Effects Special Effects

Karl-Heinz Bochnig

Stunts Stunts

Ernst Reimann

Composer Composer

Alexander Bubenheim

Sound Sound

Wolfgang Wirtz Christof Ebhardt Jörn Poetzl Max Rammler-Rogall

Costume Design Costume Design

Claudia Bobsin

Seven Pictures Typhoon Fanes Film Senator Film Senator International

Germany USA

Releases by Date

07 mar 2001, 08 mar 2001, 17 may 2001, 19 oct 2001, 07 nov 2001, 22 mar 2002, 06 jun 2002, 23 aug 2002, 10 oct 2002, 03 apr 2003, 23 jul 2009, 11 may 2005, 16 jun 2010, releases by country.

• Theatrical 15+
• Theatrical 16
• Theatrical 18
• Theatrical VM14

Netherlands

• TV 16 RTL 5
• Physical 16 DVD

Switzerland

120 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by DirkH ★★★ 27

Do NOT like this review.

If you do, your eternal soul belongs to me.

Review by Marcissus ★★★★ 6

I absolutely could not wait for this film to end. really liked it

Review by Faeze Pourpeyghambar ★★★½

Is power evil in its nature?

Socio-cognitive researches have indicated that power affects how people think and act. But the problem begins with an overact and how people overuse the power by only «feeling powerful». Its nature is so unreal, like we can accomplish just about anything! But it actually leads nowhere but demise. According to some psychological researches, power can enhance the normal amount of confidence and self-regulation in people so much that they may abuse their power to act in a corrupt manner. Just like what we see in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s psychological drama, Das Experiment.

The Experiment (2001) is about a group of people as part of a psychological research project. These twenty men are getting divided up…

Review by André Hecker ★★★★½

Großartiges, deutsches Kino. Unfassbar spannend und bedrückend, hervorragend gespielt, sehr gut durchdacht und beobachtet und knüppelhart. Das soziale Aufwiegeln in einer Extremsituation läuft zwar etwas im Schnelldurchlauf, dafür besitzt Das Experiment aber auch keine Längen oder Umwege.

--------------------------------

Great German cinema. Incredibly tense and oppressive, excellently acted, very well thought out and observed, and brutal. The social stirring up in an extreme situation runs a little fast, but The Experiment therefore has no lengths or detours.

Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★★★ 2

Cinematic Time Capsule 2001 Marathon - Film #28

”I have a feeling we are losing control”

In this highly fictionalized thriller that’s inspired by the famous 1971 Stanford psychological experiment, test subjects are recruited to participate in a 14-day simulation as “prisoners” and “guards” in a pretend prison.

Right from the outset the rules are very clear that there is to be no violence and everyones safety is the number one priority. However, as the study begins and the human animal emerges, what started as an interesting sociological experiment slowly spirals out of control and these power hungry guinea pigs find themselves taking over the asylum.

To me, this terrifyingly real subject, is way scarier than any supernatural horror film, and as I watched things descend into utter madness it was so horrific and uncomfortable that I wasn’t even sure how to react.

”The rules say to react to all events appropriately”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 2001 Ranked

Review by cinemacl🎃wn ★★★½ 2

A psychological thriller that observes the behavioural changes people undergo when they are placed in a position of power or submission in a confined atmosphere, Das Experiment is a patiently crafted, concisely narrated & brilliantly acted feature that begins slowly but escalates soon enough into a nail-biting tale of survival.

The story follows a taxi driver who, in order to make some quick cash, decides to take part in a social experiment after learning about it in a newspaper. The volunteers are assigned the role of guards & prisoners in a simulated prison situation but it soon spirals out of control when the guards become aware of the power they have.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ( Der Untergang ), the film borrows its concept…

Review by Nikhil Das ★★★½

The fact that this film is based on true events of Stanford Prison experiment happened at 1971 terrifies me. The psychological study of human behaviour and the experiment concept felt very intriguing and the performances were really good but I'd liked this more if not for that romance aspect. The romance aspect was totally unnecessary and the whole Dora - Fahd relationship thing felt kinda rushed and lacked the credibility.

Review by Flo ★★★★½ 5

Das Experiment ist ein ziemlich interessanter Film, welcher auf dem Stanford-Prison-Experiment basiert. Die Handlung ist schon an sich interessant, aber wie der Film die Handlung erzählt macht diesen Film unglaublich spannend und interessanter. Der Film hat genau das richtige Tempo, wodurch der Film mich gar nicht gelangweilt hat und sogar jede Minute spannender wurde. Außerdem wird der Film immer härter. Dazu hat der Film eine sehr bedrückende Atmosphäre, was zum Film passt. Die Figuren sind ziemlich gut geschrieben, denn diese sind Tiefgründig und haben auch ihre Charakterentwicklung, was sogar glaubwürdig umgesetzt wurde. Dazu sind diese auch interessant und fühlen sich überhaupt nicht leer an. Auch das Schauspiel ist sogar recht stark, was ich bei einen deutschen Film nicht erwartet habe.…

Review by Héctor ★★★★

In my opinion this movie is great, it is tough but it has a lot of background. The fact that it was based on true events led me thinking. They did an American adaptation, I should check it out but this one was really interesting. .

Review by Derek ★★★½

I need to preface this thing by saying that The Experiment has literally the worst music that I've heard had to listen to in a movie. It was more or less the kind of music you'd hear in a really bad 80s action movie, except here it's so out of place that it would have been funny if it wasn't for the fact that they blare it obnoxiously every time it randomly comes out. The movie itself was pretty good, though. I didn't know how I felt about it at first, mainly because the side plot with him and his girlfriend seemed nonsensically all over the place. When it gets into it, though, it really gets into it. It's one…

Review by Jessie ★★★★

Intense film that will leave you disgusted at the darker side of humanity. Based off of real life psychological experiment in 1971, Das Experiment is chock full of great performances by the cast, including Moritz Bleibtreu (personal favorite German actor), and looks into morality and the psychology of power and how quickly it becomes exploited.

Hard to watch, but excellent film.

Review by Denny_Crane ★★★

Filmwelt Filmclub  #61 - The Experiment - Ausgewählt von  CristavoFring

Sehr solider deutscher Film mit verdammt guter und überzeugender Besetzung und einer Story die einen zu keinem Moment langweilt. Die Thematik des Zumbardo-Experiments wurde zwar schon öfter verfilmt, der deutsche Film ist davon meine liebste Version.

Filmclub - Ranked

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The Experiment

Das Experiment is a shocking psycho thriller about the potential for brutality that humans hide. Even more shocking is the fact that it’s based on an actual occurrence—a 1971 psychological experiment at Stanford University that was aborted prematurely when the experimenters lost control. The Experiment featuring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel is not currently available to stream, rent, or buy but you can add it to your want to see list for updates. It's a drama and thriller movie with a high IMDb audience rating of 7.7 (96,486 votes) and was well received by critics.

Where to Watch

More information onthe experiment, oliver hirschbiegel.

Tarek Fahd, Häftling Nr. 77

Moritz Bleibtreu

Steinhoff, Häftling Nr. 38

Christian Berkel

Schütte, Häftling Nr. 82

Oliver Stokowski

Joe, Häftling Nr. 69

Wotan Wilke Möhring

Häftling Nr. 53

Stephan Szasz

Häftling Nr. 40

Häftling Nr. 21

Danny Richter

Häftling Nr. 15

Ralf Müller

Häftling Nr. 74

Markus Rudolf

Häftling Nr. 11

Peter Fieseler

Häftling Nr. 86

Thorsten Dersch

Häftling Nr. 94

Sven Grefer

Justus von dohnányi, nicki von tempelhoff, timo dierkes, antoine monot jr., lars gärtner, jacek klimontko, markus klauk, ralph püttmann.

Prof. Dr. Klaus Thon

Edgar Selge

Benjamin herrmann, friedrich wildfeuer, marc conrad, norbert preuss.

Executive Producer

Philip Evenkamp

Christoph darnstädt, don bohlinger, alexander bubenheim.

Ratings & Reviews

The Reelgood Score is a comprehensive weighted index designed to evaluate movie & TV quality, deriving its value from a blend of Reelgood user engagement, external ratings metrics expressed through content popularity, and user feedback, including ratings such as "loved," "liked," and "disliked." The score is presented on a scale from 1 to 100, where 100 signifies content that is highly esteemed and positively rated within the community.

Cast & Crew for The Experiment

The Experiment (2001)

Original title: das experiment.

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Discover Great Cinema. Save 70% for 6 months.

The movie is based on the infamous “Stanford Prison Experiment” conducted in 1971. A makeshift prison is set up in a research lab, complete with cells, bars and surveillance cameras. For two weeks 20 male participants are hired to play prisoners and guards…

• Cast & crew

Episode dated 1 February 2001

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