Danny Boyle directed Trainspotting, a British black comedy, starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her debut.
John Hodge’s Oscar-nominated screenplay, based on the 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh, centers on a group of heroin addicts in a depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life. Beyond the highs and lows of drug addiction, the film also depicts urban poverty and squalor.
The tale starts with Mark Renton, an unemployed heroin addict of 26, who lives with parents in the Edinburgh ward of Leith.
He regularly partakes in drug use with his friends: treacherous, womanizing James Bond fanatic Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson; docile and bumbling Daniel “Spud” Murphy and Swanney, “Mother Superior”, their dealer.
Renton’s other friends, aggressive, alcoholic psychopath Francis “Franco” Begbie and honest footballer and speed user Tommy Mackenzie, who abstains from heroin, warn him about his drug habit.
Renton attempts to wean himself off heroin with a bare room, foodstuffs, and opium suppositories given by dealer Mikey Forrester.
In the film’s most shocking scene, he suffers a bout of diarrhea in the dilapidated toilet of betting shop. Realizing he has defecated the suppositories, he plunges into the toilet to retrieve them.
Renton attempts to lead “useful and fulfilling” life away from heroin. He meets Sick Boy in park where he shoots a stranger’s dog with an air gun, supplying Spud with amphetamine, and stealing sex tape of Tommy and girlfriend Lizzy.
At The Volcano nightclub, Renton notices his cessation of heroin use has increased his libido. He seduces Diane Coulston, and they return to her apartment for sex. It turns out she is below the age of consent and lives with parents, whom Renton initially assumes are her flat mates. Diane threatens to report him to the police if he does not continue seeing her.
After unsuccessful attempts to return to society, Renton, Sick Boy, and Spud relapse into heroin use; Tommy also begins to dabble in drug use after becoming depressed due to being dumped by Lizzy.
Even the death of Dawn, the infant daughter of Sick Boy and girlfriend Allison, does not persuade the group to recover.
Concluding that Begbie and Sick Boy are unpredictable and dangerous, Renton steals a bag of money and leaves. Begbie, discovering Renton and the money gone, destroys the hotel room where the four stayed, prompting the police to arrest him, while Sick Boy and Spud flee.
In the end, Spud discreetly claims his share, and Renton walks away to his new life.
Released to critical acclaim, Trainspotting was ranked 10th by the British Film Institute (BFI) in its list of Top 100 British films of the 20th century.
In 2004, the film was voted the best Scottish film of all time in a general public poll.
A less successful sequel, T2 Trainspotting, was released in January 2017.
Cast
Ewan McGregor as Mark “Rent Boy” Renton
Ewen Bremner as Daniel “Spud” Murphy
Jonny Lee Miller as Simon “Sick Boy” Williamson
Robert Carlyle as Francis “Franco” Begbie
Kevin McKidd as Thomas “Tommy” Mackenzie
Kelly Macdonald as Diane Coulston
Peter Mullan as Swanney “Mother Superior”
Fiona Bell as Diane’s Mother
Pauline Lynch as Lizzy
Susan Vidler as Allison
Eileen Nicholas as Mrs Renton
James Cosmo as Davie Renton
Shirley Henderson as Gail Houston
Stuart McQuarrie as Gav Temperley/American Tourist
Irvine Welsh as Mikey Forrester
Kevin Allen as Andreas
Keith Allen as Hugo the Dealer
Dale Winton as Game Show Host
Lauren and Devon Lamb as Baby Dawn (uncredited)
