The Overdose and Withdrawal scene - Trainspotting


The Overdose and Withdrawal scene - Trainspotting


These scenes should be considered the lowest point of “Trainspotting”, where Renton suffers an overdose and has to live through the consequences of getting sober. It is a moment of harsh reality that contrasts with the easygoing and fun approach that the film and the characters had been having. In these scenes the audience are brought back to the “real world” and realise that heroin is a serious topic in spite of how the directors had been portraying it until that point. The scenes themselves turn out to be the most realistic part of the film. They show the effects of drugs through Renton’s overdose, showing one of the many side effects that it can have. It is portrayed as chaotic and, sadly, the audience can identify with the moment as it was very common in Scotland at the time.

Although the audience aligns with Renton as the scene is shot from his own eyes (in spite of the lack of his characteristic voiceover and using music instead, through editing) the same result is achieved as the borders of the carpet are being shown on screen, giving it a feeling of funeral – a feeling that he is already buried six feet under. Through body language, the characters encourage the audience to feel sympathy towards Renton, as it happens in the car shot with him and his parents. The three of them look away from each other in spite of being in a close space, shoulder against shoulder. Their positions in the cab could represent that they are forced into this situation. Renton looks like a child being scolded by his parents and, at the same time, being protected by them: wearing his father’s jacket, showing a sign of warmth, comfort and protection. Once inside Renton’s childhood bedroom, his parents take him to the single-sized bed and cover him, making sure he is safe and well. Through mise-en-scene the bedroom represents Renton’s need to be protected as if he were a boy again, with the small size of the bed, the train decorated walls and posters. But it resembles a prison from Renton’s perspective, with the lock and the amplification of the sound: his freedom is gone and he is back to the prison that represents his parent’s house.

Back at home, with Renton getting sober, the directors make a link between a TV show and his own parents. This moment could be interpreted as another one of Renton’s hallucinations, where the parents are trying to figure out what they should do with Renton and looking for answers on TV. Renton probably heard the gameshow and his own mind twisted the situation into a hallucination and put his parents in it. He ends up going to get tested for HIV as a result, hinting at the AIDS crisis in the late 80’s in Scotland. Through this sequence, Renton’s subconscious comes forward: everything he feels and is guilty of appears to haunt him. The death of the baby comes to torment him in a horrific way, and it also foreshadows Tommy's death that is seen later in the film. His death was caused by AIDS due to his depression after his girlfriend broke up with him, which started with a “prank” that Renton did at the very beginning. Begbie appears under Renton’s covers, threatening him, and he is part of Renton’s hallucinations as he is somewhat afraid of him. Spud in prison and the underage girl he met at a club also make an appearance in his hallucinations, as it is a reminder of what he has done and what he subconsciously feels guilty of.

Meanwhile, the directors also make wider social and ideological points through the use of film form to highlight the historical context. A good example is Mother Superior, who sees Renton as another client. He is not worried and does not look like it would affect him if he actually died of an overdose in his own home. Through his reactions and body language, he shows to be used to those situations, just like the taxi driver and the doctors that treated Renton at the hospital. Through the sequence of Renton’s unconsciousness, the audience gets to see the reaction of numerous people who see him curiously, none of them really surprised. On the other hand, Renton’s parents seem to be more disappointed than worried at first, and this can be seen in the exchange between him and his mother in the taxi, where she offers him a cigarette.

Overall, these scenes present the theme of reality in both subjective and objective views. Showing the reactions to Renton’s overdose from an objective view hints to the historical context of the consumption of drugs in the 80’s without having to address it. Then again, in Renton’s hallucinations the audience understands what his subconscious is worried about in spite of not being real. There is a mixture between reality and dream that explains every point of view in a simple yet thorough way.







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