Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Trainspotting

  • 1996
  • R
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
8.1/10
750K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
797
40
Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, and Kelly Macdonald in Trainspotting (1996)
Trailer for Trainspotting
Play trailer1:55
3 Videos
99+ Photos
Dark ComedyPsychological DramaDrama

Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.

  • Director
    • Danny Boyle
  • Writers
    • Irvine Welsh
    • John Hodge
  • Stars
    • Ewan McGregor
    • Ewen Bremner
    • Jonny Lee Miller
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.1/10
    750K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    797
    40
    • Director
      • Danny Boyle
    • Writers
      • Irvine Welsh
      • John Hodge
    • Stars
      • Ewan McGregor
      • Ewen Bremner
      • Jonny Lee Miller
    • 740User reviews
    • 143Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Top rated movie #172
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 23 wins & 35 nominations total

    Videos3

    Trainspotting: Blu-Ray
    Trailer 1:55
    Trainspotting: Blu-Ray
    Trainspotting
    Trailer 0:31
    Trainspotting
    Trainspotting
    Trailer 0:31
    Trainspotting
    'Trainspotting' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:21
    'Trainspotting' | Anniversary Mashup

    Photos216

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 210
    View Poster

    Top cast36

    Edit
    Ewan McGregor
    Ewan McGregor
    • Renton
    Ewen Bremner
    Ewen Bremner
    • Spud
    Jonny Lee Miller
    Jonny Lee Miller
    • Sick Boy
    Kevin McKidd
    Kevin McKidd
    • Tommy
    Robert Carlyle
    Robert Carlyle
    • Begbie
    Kelly Macdonald
    Kelly Macdonald
    • Diane
    Peter Mullan
    Peter Mullan
    • Swanney
    James Cosmo
    James Cosmo
    • David Renton
    Eileen Nicholas
    Eileen Nicholas
    • Cathy Renton
    Susan Vidler
    Susan Vidler
    • Allison
    Pauline Lynch
    Pauline Lynch
    • Lizzy
    Shirley Henderson
    Shirley Henderson
    • Gail
    Stuart McQuarrie
    Stuart McQuarrie
    • Gavin…
    Irvine Welsh
    Irvine Welsh
    • Mikey Forrester
    Dale Winton
    Dale Winton
    • Game Show Host
    Keith Allen
    Keith Allen
    • Dealer
    Kevin Allen
    Kevin Allen
    • Andreas
    Annie Louise Ross
    Annie Louise Ross
    • Gail's Mother
    • (as Ann-Louise Ross)
    • Director
      • Danny Boyle
    • Writers
      • Irvine Welsh
      • John Hodge
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews740

    8.1749.8K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Summary

    Reviewers say 'Trainspotting' delves into drug addiction, friendship, and the struggle to escape destructive lifestyles, balancing the allure and devastation of heroin use. It explores addiction's complexities, impact on relationships, and the difficulty of breaking free. The film emphasizes existential emptiness and the search for meaning beyond societal norms, highlighted by the iconic "Choose Life" monologue. Through dark humor and vivid imagery, 'Trainspotting' offers a raw look at its characters' lives, prompting reflection on personal choices and addiction's consequences.
    AI-generated from the text of user reviews

    Featured reviews

    Sean-M

    Superb

    An extremely competent look at the Scottish drug-Scene, Trainspotting is a perfect example of the potential of the UK industry to tell a story of tragedy, horror and hope in a manner that the American industry has yet to do without drifting into tired Cliche. While the manner and style of delivery are extremely funny and at times appear almost unreal, the fact remains that these characters are real. The clearly psychotic and alcoholic Begbie, played by Robert Carlyle is a supporting role that is actually of immense value to the film. Here we have character who I've met, you've met and we've all met. A man with very little to lose absorbed in a sea of alcohol and prone to violence. I choose him as example because he isnt even involved in the drug-scene in which the main characters are central. In fact his opposition is somewhat humorous when we consider his own vices make him argueably worse off and the incidences of violence he becomes involved in

    are most definitely black humour. Considering what is actually happening isnt funny, watching it play out, aside from one major incident, is extremely funny. And that is the tone of the film throughout, as characters continually talk nonsence and sail through the lives they have chosen, making very little progress, but instead drifting downwards until an opportunity presents itself to change their ways, where upon Renton, Ewan McGregor, must make a choice between his own life or his friends. McGregor himself is excellent in the film that made him, as is Jonny Lee Miller, who surprised me in this film by having a more thought-provoking character than the script and time strictly allowed considering his relatively minimal place in the main storyline. Ewen Bremner provided some excellent and often well-needed comic relief and Carlyle as I mentioned, was outstanding. This film is both real and unreal, taking the Humour of "Human Traffic" and the somber tone of "My name is Joe" and blending them together to create an unforgettable experience vividly accompanied by strains of "Perfect day" and other cultural and nostalgic sounds, particularly of the place and period. Trainspotting has been accused of glamourising drug-use but I firmly believe anyone who takes this view hasnt watched it properly. The fun is equally, if not more so, matched by some nasty images and for the time it was released, provided what was a very necessary look at the growing drug industry, the loss it creates and the hope that can arise. Superb.
    ametaphysicalshark

    A triumphant masterpiece

    Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting" is a film in which everything goes the right way. Few films are fortunate to 'be' at the right time and right place and take the world by storm as "Trainspotting" did, but the ultimate proof of this film's greatness is that if you watched it alone or with a large group of people, in 2008 or in 1996, it has the same effect- absolute power. This film is nothing more- or less- than one of the most effective and perfect artistic works ever committed to celluloid.

    The film follows the lives of a group of drug attics in Scotland in the late 1980's but is constructed less as a conventional narrative and more as a series of vignettes connected by characters and set to the film's dazzling soundtrack (the fact that I mention the scenes being 'set' to the soundtrack is proof of its importance in this particular film). Almost every scene is as powerful as the next, with three montages in particular being possibly the definitive examples of how to do a memorable cinematic montage.

    Pop culture has been kind to "Trainspotting", remembering it as a unique and great film, especially in Britain. I certainly do not disagree with this consensus, but I feel the film has been hurt by familiarity, with even television series like "Family Guy" parodying the film's well-known scenes (and badly). This doesn't mean that the film's popularity is being hurt, but that it doesn't feel as fresh and original to people now as it did back in 1996. This is hardly the thing the film's reputation suffers most from however, with the significantly large number of people who claim the film supports and promotes drug use. I have to ask, and forgive my rudeness, how stupid can you possibly be? No, drug addicts in this film are not vilified, but they are consistently shown in a brutally realistic and horrifically tragic context, and just because the film doesn't go out of its way to emotionally manipulate you into completely hating its characters doesn't mean that it promotes drug use, it means that it's a knowing film careful enough not to become a sappy, melodramatic Hollywood product.

    The acting is phenomenal, the music is terrific, the film is a pitch-perfect example of energizing editing and brilliant use of montage, and its script is one of the best ever written, alternately hilarious, horrifying, tragic, and benefiting from a rare level of depth and resonance. A British classic is what Trainspotting is recognized as, and a British classic is what it is.

    10/10
    9Sergeant_Tibbs

    Take the best orgasm you've ever had multiply it by a thousand and you're still nowhere near "Trainspotting."

    In 1996 John Hodge took Irvine Welsh's novel "Trainspotting" and with the help of Danny Boyle's direction created one of the most influential, modern cult classics Britain has to offer. Commonly ranked among the greatest films of the 90s; "Trainspotting" delivers satisfactory viewing every single time. The essential drug film.

    The term "trainspotting" in this case, is not the non-drug based hobby, but has two meanings for this film. A) The act of "trainspotting" is UK slang for trying to find a vein to intravenously inject drugs. And B) A joke not featured in the film, but two of the characters go to a disused train station to buy drugs and say they are going "trainspotting".

    Ewan McGregor stars as Mark Renton, a performance that put him on the map, a man who spends; or wastes, most of his time taking drugs with his friends in one of their apartments. Until he decides to finally pack it in and go cold turkey. We see the highs and lows of the drugs as Renton attempts to build a new life. He battles the strain and the influences of his mates; including Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) a man who stops at nothing to take all, Spud (Ewen Bremner) a fast-paced anxious performance and Francis Begbie (Robert Carylye) a frighteningly intense character who is possibly my favourite of all-time; and Renton's sex life.

    Vibrant colour is used to exaggerate the actions to intensify the imagery on screen. This also makes it stand out from other films creating a massive impact on the viewer. Unforgettable. The soundtrack consists of the pop culture the characters themselves love and some regularly featured in real life at the time. The film captures the era perfectly.

    Danny Boyle's stylish direction is what mainly is so appealing about the film. Delivering an expertly structured adrenalin rush. The daring topic of the film was well perceived by critics and audiences to claim universal praise. But, they were still unsure if it was supporting drugs or an anti-drug film. In a way it is both.

    We are guided through the film with Renton's narration, making it an extremely watchable viewing, one irresistible to want to experience several times. A hilarious triumph. This is movie-making at its most exhilarating.

    9/10
    8Prismark10

    Choose life

    Trainspotting is a magnetic, exhilarating, repulsive film based in a seedy underbelly of Edinburgh. Thieves, drug addicts and a violent type of underclass live in doss houses with babies crawling round innocently unaware of the dangers they face.

    Renton (Ewan McGregor) is a heroin addict living day to day, stealing and looking for that hit. It is an empty life and he realises he needs to kick the habit but each time he tries to get off heroin something drags him back.

    Renton experiences the high side of heroin but he knows the low side is too high a price to pay. His friends and associates are making it difficult for him to stay clean.

    Director Danny Boyle infused the film with a kinetic energy helped by its soundtrack. It is trippy, disjointed, hip even amoral in places. Despite its cool reputation it shows the ugliness of addiction. Especially with the character of Tommy who is a fitness fanatic and clean but turns to drugs when his girlfriend leaves him and he dies a horrible death.

    Like the movie A Clockwork Orange the film is driven by the narration of its central character which keeps the story together and brings out the dark humour.

    I only saw the film for the first time twenty years after its cinema release and was impressed how well it has stood up to the test of time.
    RobertF87

    The Greatest British Movie of All Time

    This film became almost a cultural phenomenon as soon as it was released in Britain in February 1996.

    Adapted from the first (and best) book by Irvine Welsh, the film shows the lives of a group of Edinburgh heroin addicts.

    The film is a black comedy, at times hilarious, tragic, surreal, brutal and uplifting. The film is full of memorable moments such as the chase down Edinburgh's Princes Street which opens the film (I happened to be there when they were filming that scene) and Ewan McGregor diving down the "Worst Toilet in Scotland" headfirst.

    The film doesn't condemn drug addicts, but it is probably more effective then any amount of preachy moralising as it depicts the devastating consequences that can happen to drug users.

    The film is well acted by a cast who have (mostly) become pretty famous since. Especially memorable is Robert Carlyle as the violent Begbie.

    I have seen this film many times. It is an instant classic. Go check it out.

    More like this

    T2 Trainspotting
    7.1
    T2 Trainspotting
    Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    8.1
    Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
    Fargo
    8.1
    Fargo
    Raging Bull
    8.1
    Raging Bull
    The Big Lebowski
    8.1
    The Big Lebowski
    V for Vendetta
    8.1
    V for Vendetta
    The Bridge on the River Kwai
    8.1
    The Bridge on the River Kwai
    Snatch
    8.2
    Snatch
    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
    8.1
    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
    Reservoir Dogs
    8.3
    Reservoir Dogs
    Million Dollar Baby
    8.1
    Million Dollar Baby
    Gran Torino
    8.1
    Gran Torino

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although it looks thoroughly off-putting, the feces in the Worst Toilet in Scotland scene was actually made from chocolate and smelled quite pleasant.
    • Goofs
      After Renton has sex with Diane, he has nothing on his penis, but once he gets kicked out into the hallway, he pulls a condom off.
    • Quotes

      Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: We took morphine, diamorphine, cyclizine, 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. Fuck it, we would have injected vitamin C if only they'd made it illegal.

    • Crazy credits
      The voice-over during the end of the end credits cites the seven movies in which Sean Connery played "James Bond".
    • Alternate versions
      The Special Edition did not feature the trailer and video. These were available in the Green Edition. UK 'Green Edition' video release is in widescreen format and includes the nine extra scenes featured in the box set special edition, the original theatrical trailer (which doesn't use any of the film's footage) and the complete promotional video of Underworld's Born Slippy, the hit song spawned from the soundtrack.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Courage Under Fire/Walking and Talking/Trainspotting/Harriet the Spy (1996)
    • Soundtracks
      Lust for Life
      Performed by Iggy Pop

      Words and Music by Iggy Pop / David Bowie

      Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd/EMI Virgin Music Ltd/Tintoretto Music

      Administered by RZO Music

      Courtesy of Virgin Records America Inc

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ33

    • How long is Trainspotting?Powered by Alexa
    • What does (or did originally) the term "trainspotting" actually mean? It's not listed in the Oxford dictionary as a certified word.
    • Is 'Trainspotting' based on a book?
    • Why is it called "Trainspotting"?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 9, 1996 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official sites
      • Official Facebook
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Trainspotting: La vida en el abismo
    • Filming locations
      • Corrour Railway Station, Highland, Scotland, UK(on location)
    • Production companies
      • Miramax
      • Channel Four Films
      • Figment Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • £1,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $16,491,080
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $262,673
      • Jul 21, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $16,992,984
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb app
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb app
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb app
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.