Illusion sets the stage. Deception reveals the truth.
In 1961, social psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) conducted the “obedience experiments” at Yale University. The experiments observed the responses of ordinary people asked to send harmful electrical shocks to a stranger. Despite pleadings from the person they were shocking, 65 percent of subjects obeyed commands from a lab-coated authority figure to deliver potentially fatal currents. With Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram’s Kafkaesque results hit a nerve, and he was accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster. Experimenter invites us inside Milgram’s whirring mind, beginning with his obedience research and wending a path to uncover how inner obsessions and the times in which he lived shaped a parade of human behavior inquiries.
Reviews
"A smart biopic, a great history lesson,
and an ode to critical thinking.” – Flicks.co.nz
“Bracing, original and thought-provoking.” – RogerEbert.com
“Experimenter” is an aesthetically and intellectually playful portrait of the social psychologist Stanley Milgram.” – New York Times