The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD

"One drop changes everything."

May 17 2012 Not Rated 1h 30m
Biography, Documentary, History

By coincidence rather than by design, the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann makes a sensational discovery in the spring of 1943. He realizes that he is dealing with a powerful molecule that will have an impact that reaches far beyond the scientific world. THE SUBSTANCE is an investigation into our troubled relationship with LSD, told from its beginnings to today.

Plot

In 1943, the year in which the first A-bomb was built, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD, a substance that was to become an A-bomb of the mind. Fractions of a milligram are enough to turn our framework of time and space upside down. The story of a drug - its discovery in the Basel chemistry lab, the first experiments by Albert Hofmann on himself, the 1950s experiments of the psychiatrists, the consciousness researchers, the artists. Could it actually be possible to find a path to the core of our human existence by means of a chemical? Spirituality at the flick of a switch? Do the enigmatic effects of this drug really help us to better understand the human soul? Could LSD be an instrument of contemporary psychiatry? Of modern brain research?

Written by

Martin Witz

Directed by

Martin Witz

Cast

Trevor J. Roling, Hanspeter Müller, Mario Scarabelli

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Switzerland

Languages

Ceský, English, Deutsch

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
892
Average Rating
7.1 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA