Trainspotting (film) encyclopedia topics

Plot

Set in Edinburgh, the film begins with a narration from Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor) while he and his friend Spud (Ewen Bremner)run down a street after shoplifting to raise cash, with security guards in pursuit. Renton states that unlike people who "choose life" (a traditional family lifestyle with children and material possessions), he and his friends have opted out of ambitious pursuits, preferring to live in a blissful, meaningless heroin-induced stupor. We are introduced to his friends: smooth player Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), awkward hanger-on Spud, clean-cut footballer Tommy (Kevin McKidd) and unpredictable psychopath Francis Begbie (Robert Carlyle). Sick Boy, obsessed with Sean Connery films, is also a heroin addict, as is Spud. In contrast, Tommy and Begbie openly criticise heroin use. Tommy lives an athletic, drug-free lifestyle. Begbie does not believe in drugs but he is ironically a vicious drunk who receives pleasure from physical violence. In the second scene, Renton decides to quit heroin. He buys rectal suppositories that he has to retrieve from a filthy toilet, before locking himself into a room to undergo withdrawal.

Renton is still struggling with temptation as he stays off heroin. Their "friendship" with Begbie is illustrated when Begbie casually throws his pint glass off a bar balcony, injuring a woman and causing a violent brawl. Renton later joins his friends and goes to a dance club where all five are in pursuit of sex. After complaining about his relationship problems with Lizzy to his friends, Tommy takes Lizzy home for sex while watching a porno video of themselves, until they discover that the tape is missing and instead a football tape goes on. Renton had previously stolen their personal sex film while claiming to borrow the football video. Tommy believes he returned it to the video rental store accidentally - a point of contention with Lizzy that leads to the end of their relationship. Spud drinks too much alcohol, as he is in a temporary abstinent relationship with his girlfriend Gail. That night, when Gail tries to have sex, Spud passes out and defecates all over her bed. Renton flirts with a bold young girl named Dianne (Kelly Macdonald), who quickly dissects his bad chat-up lines, but takes him home anyway. After the two have sex, Renton is forced to sleep on a couch outside her bedroom and discovers the next morning that he is actually at her parents' house and that she is a schoolgirl under the age of sexual consent. He tries to end this relationship, but she blackmails him into staying in contact lest she call the police and inform them of their one-night stand.

With their quest to be sober not as thrilling as hoped, Sick Boy, Spud and Renton decide to get back on heroin. The film shows a montage of thefts, dealings, and drug taking while Renton narrates that he and his mates tried all chemicals available in the streets - they would've injected Vitamin C if it was illegal. Tommy is dumped by Lizzy and takes solace in heroin, having been told it's "the ultimate hit... better than sex." Renton reluctantly gives his friend the drug. The heroin-induced stupor continues for weeks, but is violently interrupted - beginning with the screaming of Allison in their flat. The group discovers Allison's baby daughter, Dawn, has died. The cause of death was neglect while they were all present: an infant's distorted wails play over the preceding drug montage. All are shocked and feel terrible - most of all Sick Boy, who was the father. However, they continue taking heroin. Renton and Spud are later caught stealing from a shop as the run down a street - this is the opening scene of the film. Spud is sentenced to prison but Renton avoids punishment by enlisting in a Drug Interventions Programme where he is put through a gradual rehabilitation and supplied with the heroin substitute methadone.

Even though his second journey to sobriety begins with much love from his parents and friends, Renton is back at the flat of his dealer Swanney (Peter Mullan) within a few days. He orders a lot of heroin and overdoses. Swanney and a taxi driver drag the lifeless Renton to the hospital, where his life is saved. Seeing no other option, Renton's parents take him home and lock him in his own bedroom to beat the addiction cold turkey. While sweating it out of his system, he has several hallucinations, including Begbie threatening to "kick it out of him", Spud in chains, a drug addicted and diseased Tommy. Finally he sees Dawn, Allison's dead baby, crawling toward him on the ceiling while he screams and cries for his mother. This is intercut with a bizarre imagined TV gameshow in which the host (Dale Winton) asks Renton's mother and father" "Is he guilty... or not guilty?" The dream show hints that Renton is free of AIDS, but his friend Tommy is not.

Clean of heroin, Renton feels no purpose in life. He visits Tommy, who is dying of AIDS in his dark and filthy apartment. His girfriend Dianne visits him and advices him to move. Renton move to London and start a job as a property letting agent. He continues his sobriety while enjoying the vibrancy of London and saving up money on the side, while corresponding with Diane. His happiness is again short-lived - Begbie arrives at his London flat seeking a hiding place from the police for armed robbery. Sick Boy also shows up and Renton feels increasingly frustrated that he cannot turn his "mates" away. As things are boiling over in the small space, the three are told of Tommy's death back in Scotland. They return home and meet Spud, who is now out of prison.

Following Tommy's funeral, Sick Boy suggests a large and dangerous opportunity for them; the chance to buy two kilos of heroin for £4000 and sell it for up to £20,000. Begbie demands that Renton put up much of the money, having seen Renton's bank statements. Though he is wary about the deal, Renton agrees. The four meet a professional heroin dealer and sell him the heroin for £16,000, leading to a happy afternoon celebration between in a downtown pub. They have a good time in the pub until Begbie attacks a customer and glasses him before kicking his skull in. As his friends try to stop this, Begbie accidentally slices Spud's hand open with a knife. Renton has already been thinking about stealing all the money for himself. As Begbie stands over his mangled, bloodied victim and demands a cigarette to come down from his "high", Renton resolves that he will steal the money from his mates, who, he has come to understand, are not his mates at all.

Early the next morning, Renton pulls the bag of money away from a sleeping Begbie. Renton looks at Spud, who is awake and has seen everything but does not wake the others. Renton leaves and vows to live the stable, traditional life he described at the beginning of the film as he walks through London in the sunrise. When Begbie awakes he begins to smash apart the room in rage - the last time Begbie is seen, he is preparing his knives as the police bang on the door. In the final scene, Spud later finds £2000 left for him by Renton in a locker.

Cast

Actor	Role
Ewan McGregor	Mark Renton
Ewen Bremner	Daniel "Spud" Murphy
Jonny Lee Miller	Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson
Robert Carlyle	Francis Begbie
Kevin McKidd	Tommy MacKenzie
Kelly Macdonald	Dianne Coulston
Peter Mullan	Swanney "Mother Superior"
Eileen Nicholas	Mrs. Renton
Susan Vidler	Allison
Pauline Lynch	Lizzy
Shirley Henderson	Gail
Irvine Welsh	Mikey Forrester
Hugh O'Hagan (AKA Hugh Reed	Man failing to seduce Dianne Coulston in disco

Critical reception

In the UK, the film garnered almost universal praise from critics. Time Out London called the film "a triumph", saying, "audaciously punching up the pitch-black comedy, juggling parallel character strands and juxtaposing image, music and voice-over with a virtuosity worthy of Scorsese on peak form, Trainspotting the movie captures precisely Welsh's insolent, amoral intelligence. The Guardian newspaper gave the film credit for actually tapping into the youth subculture of the time, compared to other (now forgotten) contemporary British cinema. Esteemed American critic Roger Ebert heaped praise on the film for its stark, realistic portrayal of addicts' experiences with each other.

Its release sparked some controversy in some countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, as to whether it promoted drug use or not. U.S. Senator Bob Dole decried its moral depravity and glorification of drug use during the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign, although he later admitted that he had not actually seen the film. This echoed sentiments Dole had made three years earlier, attacking Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers while lauding more mainstream films like James Cameron's True Lies as being more "family friendly". Despite the controversy, it was praised as an inventive, highly effective film and received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in that year's Academy Awards. In 1999 the film came 10th in a BFI poll of British films, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the 4th greatest British film of all time.

The film's release was supported by an imaginative marketing campaign using flyers inspired by rave culture and posters of each of the main actors. Owing to illness, Kevin McKidd went on holiday having finished shooting for the film and did not attend the photoshoot for the posters.

Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, sites which search for multiple reviews of films, gave it marks in the high 80s.

Other versions

Upon its initial release in the United States, the first 20 minutes of Trainspotting were re-edited with alternate dialogue. Because of the strong Scottish accents and language of the characters, it was believed that American audiences might have difficulty understanding them. The original dialogue was later restored on the Criterion Collection laserdisc in 1997 and then on the re-release of the "Director's Cut (The Collector's Edition)" DVD in 2004.

Sequel

Boyle has stated his wish to make a sequel to Trainspotting which will take place 9 years after the original film, based on Irvine Welsh's sequel, Porno. He is reportedly waiting until the original actors themselves age visibly enough to portray the same characters, ravaged by time; Boyle joked that the natural vanity of actors would make it a long wait.

According to the director's commentary, the dealer to whom they sell the heroin is actually Hugo from Shallow Grave, Boyle's first film. According to Boyle, Hugo re-sells the heroin, thus obtaining the money he has at the beginning of Shallow Grave, and therefore making the storyline chronologically later than Trainspotting. For this reason, Boyle had actor Keith Allen playing the same character in both movies.

Soundtracks

The Trainspotting soundtracks were two best-selling albums of music centred around the film. The first is a collection of songs featured in the film, while the second includes those left out from the first soundtrack and extra songs that inspired the filmmakers during production.

Locations

Despite being set in Edinburgh almost all of the film was filmed in Glasgow, apart from the opening scenes of the film which were filmed in Edinburgh and the final scenes which were filmed in London.

Notable locations in the film include:

Princes Street, Edinburgh - The opening scene where Renton is being chased by store detectives.
The scene where the chase ends is Calton Road, Edinburgh.
Many of the interior scenes were filmed in sets built in the disused WD & HO Mills Cigarette Factory, Alexandra Parade in the East End of Glasgow. This has since been refurbished as a business centre.
The nightclub where Renton meets Dianne is the now demolished Volcano Club, Benalder Street, Glasgow.
The bar where an American tourist is mugged and Begbie throws a glass over the balcony is Crosslands, Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow.
The cafe where Renton and Spud meet before Spud's interview was Cafe d' Jaconelli, Maryhill Road, Glasgow.
The park where Sick Boy and Renton discuss James Bond, Sean Connery, and The Name of the Rose (film) is Rouken Glen Park, near Thornliebank. The park was also the site of the grave in Boyle's previous film Shallow Grave.
Corrour railway station is the setting for the "great outdoors" scene in the film.
The hotel room interior of the London hotel near the end of the movie was at the George Hotel on Buchanan Street in the centre of Glasgow, opposite the Royal Concert Hall steps. The interior has since been demolished and replaced by a Virgin Megastore (now Zavvi) and a Burtons.
Renton’s west London flat is 78A Talgarth Road at North End Road, London, opposite West Kensington tube station, part of the A4 road.
The scenes where they do their drug deal takes place in Bayswater. The scene where they parody The Beatles Abbey Road takes place as they walk out of Smallbrook Mews across Craven Road to the Royal Eagle, 26-30 Craven Road, Bayswater.
The school where Diane is taught is Jordanhill in Glasgow's West End.
The bus station where they catch the bus to London is Buchanan Street Bus Station in Glasgow.

Parodies

The film has been parodied in The Simpsons in the episode "The Regina Monologues". Bart and Lisa, on their sugar rush, parody Renton's cold turkey hallucinations and also the opening chase.
An episode of Family Guy named "Love Thy Trophy", includes a scene where Stewie undergoes withdrawal from pancakes much like Renton's in the film. Stewie, at one point, sees himself crawling across the ceiling to look down on him in a parody of the appearance of Allison's baby (complete with the Exorcist-style head turn).
A sketch on Channel 4's Adam and Joe Show features a parody of the opening sequence (called "Toytrainspotting"), 'acted out' by toys who are addicted to sherbet.
The film has been parodied in the Drawn Together episode "The Other Cousin" where, in a brief scene, Wooldoor has to kick the hallucinogenic drug that comes from Ling-Ling when he's disappointed.
Parodied on the Australian movie show The Bazura Project, Episode 2.02, as part of the episode's opening sequence
The opening sequence was also parodied in the Take That episode of Star Stories. Gary Barlow steals doughnuts from a bakery and runs down the street with them, imagining he's being chased by the baker.
In the film Stuck on You, Cher makes reference of the film, comparing Touched by an Angel to it.