# "Lust for Life" # by Iggy Pop
'Choose life. Choose a job.
'Choose a career, a family. Choose a fucking big TV.
'Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players.'
[Screech of brakes]
'Choose good health.
'Low cholesterol and dental insurance.
'Choose mortgage repayments.
'Choose a home. Choose your friends!
'Choose leisurewear and matching luggage.
'Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase!
'Wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning.
'Choose watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows.
'Stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth.
'Choose rotting away at the end,
'in a miserable home,
'nothing more than an embarrassment
'to the brats you've spawned.
'Choose your future.
'Choose life(!)'
# Here comes Johnny Yen again With the liquor and drugs
'But why would I want to do a thing like that?'
# He's gonna do another striptease
'I chose not to choose life.
'I chose something else.
'And the reasons?
'There are no reasons.
'Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?'
#..Something called love
# That's like hypnotizing chickens...
[Baby gurgles]
Goldfinger's better than Dr No.
Both of them are a lot better than Diamonds Are Forever.
A judgement reflected
in its relatively poor showing at the box office.
In which field, of course,
Thunderball was a notable success.
'People think it's all about misery
'and desperation and death and all that shite,
'which is not to be ignored.'
Fuck off! Jealous cunt!
'But what they forget...
'is the pleasure of it.'
All dead! White meat!
You prick!
'Otherwise, we wouldn't do it.'
- You want me to do it? - Yes.
Pure as driven snow, that shit.
'After all, we're not fucking stupid.
'Or at least, we're not that fucking stupid.'
# Of course, I've had it in the ear before
# Cos of a lust for life
# Got a lust for life!
'Take the best orgasm you ever had,
'multiply it by a thousand
'and you're still nowhere near it.'
Oh, it beats any meat injection!
That beats any fucking cock in the world!
'When you're on junk, you've only one worry - scoring.
'When you're off it, you worry about all sorts of shite.
'No money, can't get pissed.
'Can't get a bird. Got a bird, too much hassle.
'You worry about bills, food,
'some football team that never wins.
'About human relationships
'and things that don't matter
'when you have a sincere, truthful junk habit.'
I'd say in those days he was a muscular actor.
With all the presence of someone like Cooper or Lancaster
combined with a sly wit...
to make him a formidable lead.
And closer in that respect to Cary Grant.
# He's gonna do another striptease
# Hey, man, where'd you get that lotion?
# Your skin starts itchin' once you buy the gimmick
# About something called love
# That's like hypnotizing chickens...
'The principal drawback is you have to endure cunts saying...'
No way would I poison my body wi' that shite.
All they fucking chemicals?
No fuckin' way!
It's a waste o' your life.
Poisoning your body wi' that shite.
Every chance you've had, son, you've blown it.
Stuffing your veins wi' that filth!
'From time to time, even I have uttered the magic words.'
Never again, Swanney. I'm off the skag.
Are you serious?
- No more. I'm finished. - It's up to you.
I want off it for good.
- I've heard it before. - The Sick Boy method.
- It really worked for him(!) - Well, he lacks moral fibre.
- He's a Sean Connery expert. - That's hardly a substitute.
- You'll need one more hit. - I don't think so.
For the long night ahead.
'We called him Mother Superior
'on account of the length of his habit.
'Of course I'd have another shot. I had work to do.'
# Aria from "Carmen" # by Bizet
Relinquishing junk, stage one - preparation.
For this you will need:
a room which you won't leave, soothing music.
Tomato soup, ten tins of;
mushroom soup, eight tins of - for consumption cold.
Ice-cream - vanilla, one large tub of.
Magnesia, Milk of - one bottle.
Paracetamol, mouthwash, vitamins,
Mineral water,
Lucozade,
pornography.
One mattress. Buckets for urine, faeces and vomitus.
One television and one bottle of valium
procured from my mother
who is, in her own domestic and socially acceptable way,
also a drug addict.
Now I'm ready. I just need one final hit
to soothe the pain till the valium takes effect.
Mikey? Yeah, it's Mark Renton.
I wondered, could you help me out?
'This was typical of Mikey Forrester.'
What the fuck are these?
'Normally, I have nothing to do with him
'but things were not normal.'
Opium suppositories!
Ideal for your purposes.
Slow release.
Bring you down gradually.
Custom fucking designed for your needs.
I want a fucking hit!
It's all I've got, mate. Take it or leave it.
Feelin' better now?
I might as well have stuck them up my arse(!)
Heroin makes you constipated.
The heroin from my last hit is fading away
and the suppositories have yet to melt.
Oh!
I'm no longer constipated.
[Horse racing on TV]
I fantasize about a massive, pristine convenience.
Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble,
a seat carved from ebony,
a cistern full of Chanel No.5,
a flunky handing me pieces of silk toilet roll.
But under the circumstances,
I'll settle for anywhere.
The worst in Scotland
[Flies buzzing]
Oh, fuck! O-o-oh!
Oh!
A-a-a-ah!
A-ha-ha!
Ugh!
O-o-oh!
[Carmen continues]
Yes, ya fucking dancer!
And now...
Now I'm ready.
The downside of coming off junk
was mixing with my friends again
in a state of full consciousness.
They were so like me, I could hardly bear to look at them.
Sick Boy came off junk too,
just to show me how easily he could do it.
When all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself,
he insisted on telling me his theory of life.
Certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life.
What d'you mean?
Well, at one point you've got it,
then you lose it.
Then it's gone forever. All walks of life.
Georgie Best, for example,
had it - lost it.
Or David Bowie or Lou Reed.
His solo stuff's not bad.
No. But it's not great either.
And in your heart you know that although it sounds all right,
it's actually just...shite.
So who else?
Charlie Nicholas, David Niven, Malcolm McLaren,
- Elvis Presley... - OK, OK, OK.
What's the point you're making?
All I'm trying to do, Mark,
is to help you understand
that The Name Of The Rose is merely a blip
on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.
What about The Untouchables?
I don't rate that at all.
Despite the Academy Award?
That means fuck all.
It's a sympathy vote.
So we all get old, we cannae hack it any more and that's it?
Yeah.
That's your theory?
Yeah.
Beautifully fucking illustrated.
[Renton] Give me the gun.
Give me the gun.
[They speak with Sean Connery accents]
Have you got the beast in your sights?
Clear enough, Miss Moneypenny.
This should present no significant problems.
[Dog yelps, owner screams]
A-ah! Fucking hell, man! A-ah!
For a vegetarian, Rents,
you're a fucking evil shot!
'Without heroin,
'I led a useful and fulfilling life as a good citizen.'
[Loud slurping]
[Burps]
- Good luck, Spud. - Cheers, Cat-boy.
If they think you're no tryin', you're doomed.
They'll be on to the DSS
and your giro's fucking finished, right?
- Right. - But try too hard...
- You might get the job! - Exactly.
- Nightmare! - It's a tightrope, Spud.
A fucking tightrope!
I get pure shy with the interviewer cats.
I can't answer the questions.
I get nerves, like footballers on big occasions.
Try some of this.
Some speed - just the ticket, man.
Naw, I went to Craigie - Craignewton.
I put Royal Edinburgh College to help get the job.
There's too much discrimination here.
They're both schools, right.
I put across the idea. People get hung up on details.
Like how many O-grades I got. Maybe six. Maybe none.
It's not important. What's important is that I am.
Do you mean you lied on your application?
No...Well, yes.
To get my foot in the door. Showing initiative.
You were referred by the Department of Employment.
Your foot was in the door.
Yeah, cool.
Whatever you say, man. Sorry.
You're the man. The dude in the chair.
I am merely here. Obviously.
What exactly attracts you to the leisure industry?
In a word, pleasure.
Like, my pleasure in other people's leisure.
Do you see yourself as having any weaknesses?
Oh, yes! I'm a bit of a perfectionist.
For me, it's the best or nothin' at all.
Things get dodgy - I cannot be bothered.
But I'm getting good vibes about this interview.
Seems to me it's going pretty well, eh?
Thank you, Mr Murphy.
We'll let you know.
The pleasure was mine.
[Renton] 'Spud had done well.
'He made me proud. Fucked up good and proper.'
Picture the scene.
The other fuckin' week there,
down the Volley wi' Tommy playing pool.
I'm playing like Paul Newman,
giving the boy a tanning.
It comes to the last shot,
the deciding ball of the tournament.
I'm on the black, he looks biscuit-arsed.
When this hard cunt comes in.
Obviously fucking fancied himself, like.
Starts staring at me.
Looking right fucking at me
as if to say, "Come ahead."
You ken me.
I'm not the type that goes looking for bother
but I had a pool cue and he'd get it in his puss!
So I squares up, casual like.
What does the hard cunt do? The so-called hard cunt?
Shites it!
Puts down his drink and gets the fuck out of there.
And after that... well, the game was mine.
[Renton] 'And that was it.
'That was Begbie's story.
'Or Begbie's version of the story.
'Later, I got the truth from Tommy.
'You always got the truth from Tommy.
'He never lied, never took drugs,
'never cheated on anyone.'
It was Wednesday morning.
We were in the Volley, playing pool. That's true.
But Begbie is playing absolutely fucking gash.
His hangover's so bad,
he can hardly hold the fucking cue!
I'm doing my best to lose, trying to humour him.
But every time I touch a ball, I pot something.
Every time Begbie goes near the table, he fucks it up.
Oh, fuck's sake...!
So, he's got the hump.
But I set him up to pot the black,
win one game, salvage his pride and not kick me in.
So, he's on the black...
'Pressure shot...
[Loud scrunching]
'which goes wrong, big time.'
FUCK!
'He picks on this wee gadge,
'accusing him of putting him off.
'He hadn't even glanced at us.'
- Fuck off! - 'He'd have chibbed him.'
Then I thought he was gonna do me.
The beggar's fucking psycho.
But he's a mate.
- What can you do? - Can I borrow this?
[Renton] 'What indeed could one do?
'Try not to get involved.'
[Girl screams]
'Begbie didn't do drugs. He did people.
'He got off on it. His own sensory addiction.'
[Screaming]
Nobody move!
The lassie got glassed. No cunt moves till we know who did it.
Who the fuck are you?
YES!
A-A-AH!
[Screaming and yelling]
[Panting and moaning]
Oh, Tommy!
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Oh!
- Oh, Lizzy! - Oh, Tommy! I'm coming!
[Renton] 'As I sat watching
'the highly personal video
'stolen only hours earlier from one of my best friends,
'I realised that something was missing from my life.'
[Loud music] # Leave no track
# Don't look back
# All I desire - temptation
How's it going with Gail?.
No joy yet.
How long is it?
Six weeks.
Six weeks!
Nightmare right. She told me she didn't want our relationship to start out
on a physical basis as that is how it principally is going to be defined from then on.
When did she come up with that?
She read it in Cosmopolitan.
Six weeks and no sex?
I've got balls like fucking watermelons, I'm telling you.
- I read it in Cosmopolitan. - Interesting theory.
Actually, it's a nightmare. I'm desperate for a shag
but watching him suffer was just too much fun.
Try it wi' Tommy.
It's the only pleasure I get from him!
- You know about my birthday? - No.
He forgot. Useless motherfucker!
Useless motherfucker; that's what she called me.
I said to her, look I'm sorry but these things happen, let's put it behind us.
That's fair enough.
Yes, but then she finds out I've got a ticket for Iggy Pop the same night.
Was she upset?
Very, "It's me or Iggy Pop, time to decide."
So what are you going to do?
Well I've paid for the ticket.
What are you two talking about?
Football. What are you talking about?
Shopping.
'The situation was becoming serious.
'Renton noticed the haste with which
'the successful in the sexual sphere,
'as in all others, segregated themselves from the failures.'
# I can't break away
# Keep us from temptation Oh, oh, oh
# Keep us from temptation
'Heroin had robbed Renton of his sex drive
'but now it returned with a vengeance.
'The impotence of those days faded
'and desperation took a hold on his sex-crazed mind.
'Post-junk libido, fuelled by alcohol and amphetamine
'taunted him with his own unsatisfied desire.
'Dot, dot, dot.'
# You think you're right now Temptation!
# You're gonna face it tonight now
# Temptation
# Ooh, give me a break-down
# Temptation Time for a shake down!
# Oo-ooh
# Temptation
# Temptation...
# "Atomic" # by Blondie
[Music drowns out speech]
'And with that,
'Mark Renton had fallen in love.'
Excuse me. I don't mean to harrass you
but I was very impressed
with the way you dealt with that situation.
- I think you're special. - Thanks.
- Your name? - Diane.
Where are you going?
- Home. - Where's that?
It's where I live.
- Great. - What?
I'll come back with you but I'm not promising anything.
Does this approach usually work?
Or have you never tried it before?
You don't normally approach girls, right?
You're a quiet, sensitive type
but if I'm prepared to take a chance,
I'll get to know the inner you.
Witty, adventurous, passionate, loving, loyal... Taxi!
A little bit crazy, a little bit bad.
But hey, don't us girls just love that(!)
Eh?
Well?.
What's wrong, boy?
Cat got your tongue?
I left something...
[Taxi driver] Are you getting in?
Do you understand?
You will be a considerate and thoughtful lover.
Generous...but firm.
Failure on your part
to live up to these very reasonable expectations
will result in swift resumption of a non-sex situation.
Right?
Diane...
Ssh!
What?
(Shut up!)
# Tonight...
# Make him magnificent
# Tonight...
(Wake up, Spud.
(Wake up.)
Sex!
Casual sex!
[Snoring]
Tommy, put the tape on.
What?
I wanna watch ourselves while we're screwing.
So let's see what I'm missing.
Not much!
[TV commentary] 'The captain, Archie Gemmill,
'picking it up from the outside...
'He's going all the way... and he scores!
'Oh, what a magnificent goal!
'Gemmill at his very best.
'What a penetrating goal that was.'
I haven't felt that good
since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978.
Right. You can't sleep here.
- What? - Out!
Come on!
You can sleep on the hall sofa or go home.
And don't make any noise.
Jesus!
[Lizzy] Gone?
- Where has it gone? - It'll be here somewhere!
I might've returned it by mistake.
Returned it?!
Where? The video shop, Tommy?
The fucking video shop?!
So every punter in Edinburgh's jerking off to our video?
Oh, God, Tommy, I feel sick!
[Roar of aeroplane]
[Fly buzzing]
[Diane sings in shower]
# Ooh, you've got green eyes
# Ooh, you've got blue eyes
# Ooh, you've got grey eyes
# But I've never seen...
- Hi. - Hello.
# No, I've never met anyone quite like you before
(Fuck!)
[Incoherent whimpers]
O-o-oh!
Oh!
UGH!
Eh?!
[Pop music on radio]
Come in and sit down.
[Man] Like some coffee?
Aye.
You must be Mark.
Aye, that's me.
Are you a friend of Diane's?
- More a friend of a friend. - Right.
Are you her flatmates, like?
Flatmates?!
I must remember that one.
[Diane] Morning.
[Murmured conversation]
Good morning, Spud.
Morning, Gail. Mr Houston.
Mrs Houston.
Mornin', Spud.
Sit down and have some breakfast.
I'm sorry about last night, by the way.
That's OK. I slept fine on the sofa.
I had a bit much to drink. Had a bit of an accident.
Dinnae worry.
Does a man good to cut loose once in a while.
This one could do with being tied up.
I'll get the sheets washed. I'll wash them.
No need.
- It's no problem. - Or for me.
- I'd rather take care of it. - Really...
- No! - Spud, they're my sheets!
- Why not? - Because it's illegal.
What, holding hands?
- No, not holding hands. - You were quite happy
- to do a lot more last night. - That's what's illegal!
Inside, they'd cut my balls off.
- You're not going to jail. - Easy for you to say.
- Can I see you again? - Certainly not!
If you don't see me again, I'll tell the police.
I'll see you around.
[School bell rings]
[Train whistles]
Now what?
[Tommy] We're going for a walk.
A walk!
- Where? - There!
Are you serious?
Well, what are you waitin' for?
Tommy...
this is not natural, man.
It's the great outdoors!
Fresh air!
We know Lizzy's giving you a hard time.
Don't take it out on us.
Makes you proud to be Scottish.
It's shite being Scottish!
We're the lowest of the low.
The scum of the fuckin' earth!
The most wretched, miserable, servile pathetic trash
that was ever shat into civilisation!
Some hate the English.
I don't - they're just wankers.
We, on the other hand, are colonised by wankers.
Can't even find a decent culture to be colonised by.
We're ruled by effete arseholes!
It's a shite state of affairs.
All the fresh air in the world won't make a fucking difference!
Sorry, man.
It's no' like...
No, I appreciate it, Tommy.
[Renton] 'Around this time,
'Spud, Sick Boy and I
'made a healthy, informed, democratic decision
'to get back on heroin as soon as possible.
'Took about twelve hours.'
[Swanney] Paul Newman, right,
he were doing the world a favour...
[Renton] 'Looks easy, this. It's not.
'Looks like a doss, a soft option.
'But living like this is a full-time business.'
[Sick Boy] Ursula Andress.
The quintessential Bond girl -
that's what everyone says.
The embodiment, right,
of his superiority to us.
Beautiful...
exotic...
highly sexual
yet...totally unavailable
to anyone apart from him.
Shite! Let's face it,
she'd shag one punter from Edinburgh,
she'd shag the whole fucking lot of us!
[TV on]
I knew he was gonna do that.
# Nightclubbing
# We're nightclubbing...
Lizzy's gone, Mark.
She's gone and fucking dumped me.
It was that video tape.
And that Iggy Pop business and other shite.
She told me where to go and no mistake.
I said to her,
"Is there any chance of getting back together?"
No way. No fucking way.
Honor Blackman,
aka Pussy Galore.
Right?
What a total fucking misnomer!
I wouldnae touch her with yours!
I want to try it.
You're always going on
about how it's the ultimate hit.
Better than sex.
Come on, man, I'm a fucking adult.
I can find out for myself.
I've got the money.
[Sick Boy] Personality.
I mean, that's what counts, right? Personality.
That's what keeps a relationship going
through the years.
Like heroin.
I mean,
heroin's got great fucking personality.
# Nightclubbing
# We're nightclubbing
# We're walking through town
# Nightclubbing
[Renton] 'Swanney taught us
'to adore and respect the National Health Service.
'It was the source of much of our gear.
'We stole drugs.
'We stole prescriptions,
'bought them, sold them, forged or photocopied them.
'Or traded drugs with cancer victims, alcoholics,
'old-aged pensioners, AIDS patients,
'epileptics and bored housewives.
'We took morphine, diamorphine,
'cyclozine, codeine, temazepam,
'nitrazepam, phenobarbitone,
'sodium amytal, dextropropoxyphene, methadone,
'Nalbuphine, pethidine, pentazocine,
'buprenorphine,
'dextromoramide, chlormethiazole.
'The streets are awash with drugs
'you can have for unhappiness and pain.
'And we took them all.
'We would've injected Vitamin C
'if they'd made it illegal!'
[Baby cries]
The first day of the Edinburgh Festival
[American tourist] May I use your bathroom?
Thank you.
No!
Now Rent-boy,
no fucking skag.
'But the good times couldn't last forever.'
[Woman screams hysterically]
No!
Oh, my God, no!
Please!
'I think Allison had been screaming all day
'but it hadn't really registered before.
'She might have been screaming for a week.
'It was days since I'd heard anyone speak.
'Though surely someone must have said something
'in all that time.'
Allison? Allison!
- Help me, please! - Cool down!
Everything's gonna be just fine.
'Nothing could've been further from the truth.
'In fact, nothing was gonna be just fine.
'On the contrary, everything was gonna be bad.
'Everything was gonna be even worse than it already was.'
No!
[Allison screams incessantly]
[Allison] No! No! No!
(Fuck!)
[Allison] No! No! No!
'It wasn't my baby.
'She wasn't my baby.
'Baby Dawn - she wasn't mine.
'Spud's, Swanney's,
'Sick Boy's...
'I dunno.
'Maybe Allison knew. Maybe not.
'I wished I could think of something to say -
'something sympathetic,
'something human.'
[Sick Boy] Say something, Mark.
Fucking say something!
[Allison sobs]
I'm cooking up.
[Allison sobs and whimpers]
Cook us up a shot, Rents.
I really need a hit.
'And so she did -
'I could understand that.
'To take the pain away.
'So I cooked up
'and she got a hit.
'But only after me -
'that went without saying.
'Well, we knew who the father was now.
'It wasn't just the baby that died that day.
'Something inside Sick Boy was lost and never returned.
'He had no theory to explain this moment. Nor did I.
'Our only response was to keep going and fuck everything.
'Pile misery on misery. Heat it on a spoon
'and dissolve it.
'Then squirt it into a vein
'and do it all over again.
'Keep on going out, robbing, fucking people over.
'Propelling ourselves with longing
'towards the day it would all go wrong.
'Because no matter how much you stash or steal,
'you never have enough.
'No matter how often you go out and rob,
'you always need to do it all over again.
'Sooner or later,
'this kind of thing was bound to happen.'
Shoplifting is theft, which is a crime,
and there is no such entity as victimless crime.
Heroin addiction explains but doesn't excuse your actions.
Mr Murphy, you are a habitual thief, devoid of remorse.
I sentence you to six months' imprisonment.
I worry it will not be long till we meet again.
Mr Renton, you have entered a programme of rehabilitation
in an attempt to wean yourself away from heroin.
The suspension of your sentence depends
on your continued cooperation with this programme.
Stand guilty before me again
and I won't hesitate to impose a custodial sentence.
Thank you, Your Honour.
With God's help, I'll conquer this terrible affliction.
'What can you say?
'Begbie had a phrase for it.'
It was obvious that cunt was gonna fuck some cunt.
Have you learnt your lesson?
My son! I thought I was gonna lose you.
You're nothing but trouble but I still love you!
Clean up your fucking act.
- Cut that shite out. - Francis is talking sense.
Fucking right. See, inside, you wouldn't last two days.
There's better things than the needle. Choose life.
My wee baby.
# Oh, Mamma's little baby...
# Loves shortening, shortening
# Mamma's little baby loves shortening bread!
[Laughter fades]
I'm sorry, Mrs Murphy.
It wasn't fair, Spud going down and not me.
Well, it's no' our fault!
Your boy went down because he was a smackhead.
If that's not your fault then I don't know what is.
I tried to get him off it.
I'll get the drinks in, eh?