Trainspotting Scene Analysis

In Trainspotting, there is a scene where most of the main characters are going home from their nights out from the nightclub. Renton, Tommy and Spud are all about to have sex with their partners but only Renton ends up having sex with Diane while Spud ends up passing out and Tommy falls out with his girlfriend over when their sex tape goes missing, unbeknown to them Renton had stolen it later that day. We then get a match on action because a game of football comes on the telly, the commentator says, ‘he’s going all the way and he scores!’ this is when we cut back to Renton and Diane having sex and it seems that Renton has ejaculated as soon as the player scores the goal. This if effective because it shows two stories at once, one story of Tommy realising his film has gone and one where we see Renton and Diane falling in love with each other.

The fact that Renton was the only one to have sex could foreshadow that Renton’s life is about to take a turn in the right direction and the fact Tommy doesn’t have sex could foreshadow that his life is about to go downhill.

We also see plush toys and other childlike objects in her bedroom, this implies that straight away Diane is a minor and is about to try and blackmail Mark into being with her.