Experimenter (2015)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic 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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Cast
as Stanley Milgram
as Sasha Menkin Milgram
as Rensaleer
as William Shatner
as Mrs. Lowe
as Taylor
as Miller
as James McDonough
as Ossie Davis
as Florence Asch
as Tom Shannon
as Curtis
as Shelia Jarco
as Bruno
as Paul Hollander
as Braverman
as Solomon Asch
as Cavett
as Stephen Macht
as Paul Errara
as George Bellak
as Mrs. Greer
as Washington
as Sally
as John Williams
as Serge Moscovici
as Hospital Receptionist
as Woman
as Hannah Arendt
as Michele Milgram
as Mrs. Stein
as Donna Abbott
as Airport Passenger
as Homeless Man
as Mr. Abe Lincoln
as Whittaker
as Little Sister at the Airport
as Elms/Alan
as Worthheimer
as Party Guest
as Keller Hawkins
as Student #1
as Big Sister at the Airport
as Student #3
as Airport Passenger
as Emerson Rosenthal
as Percy
as Black Man in White T-Shirt
as Hank Solomon
as Waiter
as Man in Suit
as Dentist
as Marc Milgram
as Student #2
as Brandt
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Critic Reviews for Experimenter
All Critics (72) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (10)
Mostly playful if occasionally pretentious ...
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.
Fascinating work by Michael Almereyda, a mix of audacious artifice, ruminations and reality.
Peter Sarsgaard carries this engaging biopic of Stanley Milgram.
When you have such a provocative foundation and such rich material to work with, pushing it to the next level isn't necessarily the best choice.
"Experimenter's" most striking quality is the way it encourages us to think deeply, from the first frame to the last, even if it's just to consider what on Earth an elephant is doing on screen.
Audience Reviews for Experimenter
The stylized direction is sometimes unnecessarily distracting (even though the breaking of the fourth wall does work) and in some occasions the narrative seems to digress, but still this is a compelling account of a fascinating experiment that says a lot about human nature.
Super Reviewer
Would make a great double feature with The Stanford Prison Experiment movie. As I explained in my review for that film as background, I had a semester internship at the Center for the History of American Psychology, an archives/museum on the University of Akron campus, when I was getting my library degree. They had one of the "shock boxes" on display there and I found myself most interested in the social psychology field. Writer/director Almereyda has put some unique touches on this film. There are several well known actors in minor rolls. Peter Sarsgaard is professor Milgram and Winona Ryder is his faithful wife Sasha. Milgram's most famous "obedience experiments" took place in 1961, ten years before the Stanford Prison Experiments. This movie explores those experiments from all sides, but goes beyond them to reveal more about the rest of Stanley Milgram's life. Professor Milgram often breaks the fourth wall to explain the outcome of some situation directly to the audience so that the next scene can move forward more quickly. We are introduced to a few other experiments that Milgram initiated and to Sasha and Stanley's long relationship as equals. There is also a segment where professor Milgram and Sasha visit another professor who had been an inspiration to Stanley in his younger days. The filmmakers use green screens and black-and-white photos of the interior and exterior of this other professor's home to set the scenes. Historians or archivists may find this effect especially fascinating. I have not seen any other filmmaker mix live action and archival materials quite like this before. If you watch this movie, you will be entertained, perhaps disturbed, but you will definitely learn something.
Super Reviewer
I really enjoyed this casual (very nearly offhand) look at how group think affects all of our lives. An important consideration packaged in a coffeehouse format for ease of consumption.
Super Reviewer
Experimenter Quotes
| Stanley Milgram: | Why is defiance the anomaly instead of the norm. |
| Stanley Milgram: | The man in the other room wasn't being shocked. |
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