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In 1961 professor Stanley Milgram of Yale University devised a radical new science experiment in which participants were asked to deliver a series of electric shocks to a stranger they could hear but not see in an adjacent room. The shocks, at first mild, increased to howls of pain as the experiment progressed. Based on a true story Peter Sarsgaard stars as the determined and controversial psychologist Stanley Milgram alongside Winona Ryder in a striking performance as his wife Sasha Milgram. At a time when the world was reeling from World War II and desperate to understand Nazi torture chambers, Milgram's behaviour experiments were designed to test the willingness of ordinary people to obey authoritative orders. Director Michael Almereyda crafts a stylistic and potent examination of the controversial Milgram and the significant impact of his landmark findings.