Experimenter
6.5/10
Rating
97 min
Runtime
2015
Release Year
Michael Almereyda
Director
Cast
Peter Sarsgaard, Winona Ryder, Jim Gaffigan, Edoardo Ballerini, John Palladino
Quick Synopsis
In 1961 at Yale University, psychologist Stanley Milgram conducts an experiment to study obedience to authority. Participants believe they are administering increasingly painful electric shocks to a friendly stranger in another room, despite the stranger's pleas to stop. Most participants continue delivering shocks, even when they think they are causing serious harm, simply because an authority figure instructs them to do so. The experiment gains widespread attention during the televised trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann, highlighting the disturbing ease with which people follow orders. While Milgram's work is praised for its insights, he also faces criticism for ethical concerns, yet his wife Sasha remains supportive throughout the controversy.
Detailed Synopsis of Experimenter
Yale University, 1961. Stanley Milgram designs a psychology experiment that still resonates to this day, in which people think they’re delivering painful electric shocks to an affable stranger strapped into a chair in another room. Despite his pleads for mercy, the majority of subjects don’t stop the experiment, administering what they think is a near-fatal electric shock, simply because they’ve been told to do so. With Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram strikes a nerve in popular culture and the scientific community with his exploration into people’s tendency to comply with authority. Celebrated in some circles, he is also accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster, but his wife Sasha stands by him through it all.
