- Title: FRANCE: 'TRAINSPOTTING' STIRS CONTROVERSY AT CANNES
- Date: 13th May 1996
- Summary: CELEBRITIES ARRIVING, INCLUDING DAMON ALBARN (BLUR)
- Embargoed: 28th May 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVAEFS7UB3UQGVTVPBDHWZYSYVG6
- Story Text: British pop stars Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Damon Albarn (Blur), and Justine Frischmann (Elastica) joined the stars of the British commercial hit "Trainspotting" at the film's screening at the Cannes film festival on Monday (May 13).
The Britpop bands all have songs featured on the film's soundtrack album.
British Heritage Minister Virginia Bottomley's appearance at the premiere came as a surprise to many, given her recent remarks against violence in films and the controversial subject matter of "Trainspotting".
The film has been the subject of debate because of its grimly realistic portrayal of heroin addiction.
So far released only in Britain and screened out of competition in Cannes, it has earned more than $15 million in box-office takings.
Directed by Danny Boyle, 39, the hottest British film so far this year captures both the ecstasy and agony of drug-taking in a dark but comic tale of comradeship and betrayal.
Dubbed a "Clockwork Orange" for the 1990s, it also sparked a row in Britain with some dailies labelling it disgusting and irresponsible propaganda for drugs.
Boyle, who has reunited much of the team behind last year's successful "Shallow Grave", looks to the French Riviera festival to test foreign waters.
At a packed press screening of the film, based on Irvine Welsh's cult novel, critics greeted the final credits with bemused silence. But many praised it later.
"It's not propaganda at all. It's the most engrossing, original and well-acted film on that generation I've seen in a long time," said a Canadian film writer. "The addicts' fate doesn't encourage you to take drugs at all," said an Italian.
Critics from Britain and the United States were less keen.
"It's insidious. It says that you can snap in and out of drugs but that's untrue," said a British writer.
The film industry bible Variety predicted it would alienate general audiences with its "in-your-face-realism, cinematic fantasy and four-letter dialogue, which sets new standards in screen profanity." Minutes into the movie, anti-hero Renton (Ewan McGregor) praises heroin: "Take the best orgasm you've ever had, multiply it by a thousand, and you're still nowhere near it." To pounding pop music from Iggy Pop and Lou Reed among others, tourniquets tighten and needles plunge into flesh as Scottish friends choose drugs and crime to find a new life.
"It deals with heroin in a very honest way. It recognises that the drug gives you a feeling of well-being even if it ends up ruining your life," said producer Andrew Macdonald.
Boyd Farrow, columnist for Screen International, cautioned the controversy would heat up in the United States where it is scheduled for release on July 17.
"Drug users in U.S. films have traditionally been portrayed with the same sensitivity that Hollywood has reserved for African-Americans, Russians and serial killers.
"This ostensible puritanism is hardly surprising in a country where Disney World is the opiate of the masses and lighting a cigarette in a restaurant is now punishable by death," he quipped. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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