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Das Experiment

Movie · 2001 · 15 people

Oliver Hirschbiegel directed Das Experiment in 2001, a German psychological thriller loosely modelled on Philip Zimbardo's 1971 Stanford prison experiment. The screenplay by Mario Giordano, Don Bohlinger and Christoph Darnstädt adapts Giordano's 1999 novel Black Box. It was produced by Typhoon Films and Fanes Film, reached Turkish cinemas on 21 June 2002, and was remade in the United States as The Experiment in 2010.

A team of scientists sets up a fake prison to gauge people's instinctive drives. Twenty volunteers, paid for their time, are split into eight guards and twelve prisoners. It starts as a game, but as the guards take their authority to heart the atmosphere hardens and the violence grows step by step. The volunteers become prisoners of their roles, and the scientists running the study lose control. Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Berkel, Oliver Stokowski and Andrea Sawatzki lead the cast, joined by Wotan Wilke Möhring, Polat Dal and Justus von Dohnányi.

Although the film echoes many events of the Stanford study, it adds violence and sexual content for impact, and the departures are sharpest at the climax. The people behind the real experiment sued over the film's 'based on a true story' subtitle and won. The score is by Alexander Bubenheim.

DirectorOliver Hirschbiegel
Production companyTyphoon Films

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Moritz Bleibtreu Moritz Bleibtreu Film actor · 55 years old Fatih Akın Fatih Akın Film director · 53 years old Christian Berkel Oliver Stokowski Wotan Wilke Möhring Polat Dal Danny Richter Peter Fieseler Justus von Dohnányi Timo Dierkes Antoine Monot Jr. Lars Gärtner Markus Klauk Ralph Püttmann Edgar Selge

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Hirschbiegel's real achievement is turning a closed set-up into tension that climbs step by step: the experiment's collapse comes across less as a thesis than as mounting pressure. The trouble is that the film eventually decides this system isn't enough. A story rooted in the Stanford experiment slides into familiar genre patterns through the violence and sexual content added for impact, and the departure is sharpest in the finale. In my view the cool observation of the first half is overshadowed by the thriller reflexes of the last stretch. Still, few German films chart the blurring of role and identity so plainly.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The reason Das Experiment still gets talked about is its question of how easily authority is internalised. Ordinary volunteers, there for the money, become different people once handed a uniform and power, a reminder that institutions can be stronger than individuals. But one distinction matters: the film is inspired by a real experiment without being faithful to it. That the people behind the actual study sued over the 'based on a true story' tagline, and won, is a useful warning to take the line between fiction and record seriously. It is better read as a dramatised interpretation of that question than as a social psychology lesson.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

On the thriller side, the film knows its job. Rules that look like a game at first harden step by step, and every scene is more dangerous than the last. The pace never sags, because the threat comes from the people in the same room rather than from outside. Fair warning, though: the violence keeps getting heavier and there are plenty of disturbing moments. Not the pick for a light night in.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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