Trainspotting Overdose & Withdrawal Scenes Analysis'

 Just before the scene in which Renton overdoses on heroin, we see him walk out of the fire exit of the bingo hall he was in with his family in the previous scene. The way in which he sneaks away from his family is symbolic of the fact that he is leaving them behind for heroin. He continues to complain via voiceover about the methadone he is being prescribed by doctors as a substitute to heroin, and about how it is not enough to satisfy him. He climbs along the wall, and jumps off of it; signalling to the audience his desperateness for heroin, and how severe his addiction really is. After he jumps, the film cuts straight to him landing in the heroin dealer, Mikey Forrester flat. Renton and Forrester speak to each other as if they are in a fancy restaurant, which is the film once again poking fun at and acknowledging the class differences in the UK in this time period. Renton asks for the heroin to be "put on his tab", to which the Forrester responds with the fact that he still owes him a lot of money. Forrester also makes sure to test if the money that Renton gives him, saying that he "can't be too careful with Renton's type." Both of these interactions hint at how Renton has potentially tried to scam Forrester in the past, further displaying his desperateness. As Renton begins to overdose, he sinks into the carpet, making it so that he is literally 'six feet under'. After he sinks into the carpet, there is a shot from Renton's point of view, as Forrester looks down on him, offering to call a taxi. From Renton's perspective, it looks as if he is in a coffin already. While he begins to sink into the carpet, the song "Just a Perfect Day" by Lou Reed, begins to play. The song's title appears to be sarcastic, as while it is describing a "perfect day", the song is in minor key; this symbolises the fact that while Renton is just happy to feel the effect of heroin, everyone else in this scene and most audience members view this situation as depressing, possibly figuratively looking down on Renton, as the Forrester literally does. Another thing of note about the context of the song, is that the singer, Lou Reed, was at the time known for also having an addiction to heroin. In the lyrics, he says "it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it  with you"; where he says "you" in this song, he is personifying heroin. This song is synced up with the entire scene from this point onwards. Mikey Forrester, when saving Renton, drags him down the stairs and leaves him in the middle of the road, showing the lack of respect for him; treating him as subhuman, despite clearly having a fondness for him, as shown by their previous interactions. During this, we see from Renton's perspective that as he sees all of this, he still feels as if he is sinking into the carpet; showing both how close he feels to death, as well as his slow reaction time, and difficulty to process things, as he is on heroin. Eventually, a taxi arrives to take Renton to the hospital, and Forrester puts him in the back, placing money in his shirt pocket. When the taxi arrives at the hospital, the taxi driver drags Renton out of the taxi onto the pavement, pulling the money out of his pocket. The look on his face is that of disgust and contempt, showing the opinion of the general public of heroin addicts in Edinburgh in the late 1980s. Renton is put on a stretcher and brought in a hospital. Many onlookers in the waiting room watch as they pull him through the hospital, but none of them look surprised, showing how common this was; this is further displayed by the way in which the nurses treat this situation, as it was a very common, standard procedure.

When they return home from the hospital, Renton's parents put him in bed and leave the room, locking Renton in the room. After they leave the room, the audience go from spectating this from an objective point of view, to being aligned with Renton, seeing this from his subjective point of view. This is because the non-diegetic techno music begins to kick in, with an intense beat getting louder and louder and the camera moves closer to Renton, who is struggling in bed. He describes himself as being in "junkie limbo" via voiceover, explaining he is "too ill to sleep" and "too tired to stay awake".  An effect is achieved to make it appear as though the bed Renton is laying on is moving backwards through the room, as the room continues to get bigger, showing Renton's restlessness. He also constantly states that "the sickness is coming", acknowledging that despite his discomfort, he knows that will soon get a lot worse. When his parents come to bring him food, he continuously suggests alternatives to heroin, such as the methadone which he was taking before; however, his parents refuse all of his requests, leading Renton to shout at them that he "needs one more hit."  Before his parents enter the room, he has a hallucination of Diane singing to him. After they leave the room, he pulls his duvet over his head, he has another hallucination of Begbie in his bed next to him, threatening that he will "kick it out of his system" if he doesn't "sweat it out of his system". This is followed by yet another hallucination, this time of the baby that died earlier in the film crawling on the ceiling towards him. These hallucinations begin to intertwine, as he has one of Sick Boy telling him to "just say no", taunting Renton with how easy it is. These hallucinations quickly intertwining, shows Renton is overwhelmed by his regret and personal problems when he is sober, giving more insight into why he became addicted to heroin. Eventually, when this all reaches it's peak, Renton screams as his parents wake him up, showing that despite all of the mistakes he may have made, and the amount of people that surround him who don't care for him, there are still people in his life that love him unconditionally and just want the best for him.