Relentlessly morbid dissection of drugs addiction

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2003)

SPOILERS WARNING
The film contained many fascinating sequences but ultimately left me none the wiser about the characters. The acting was great yet the story and the direction contained little emotional depth and almost no subtlety.
At the end of the film I didn't feel as if I knew, or could empathise, with any of the characters (with the exception of Sara). The anti-drugs message was very evident but reminiscent of a patronising school counsellor. For example, in Trainspotting Danny Boyle contrasted the thrill of taking drugs with the likely dire consequences, and therefore offered a non-masochistic insight into the sad popularity of illegal drugs.
The two scenes that stood out for me were Sara's quite brilliant speech about her loneliness in old age and the scene with her two friends hugging. They had an emotional depth that the rest of the film lacked. The gruelling scene involving the electic shock therapy, amputation, and the show-orgy was distressing to watch but no more so than if I had seen those terrible images out of context. The same message could have been delivered with more subtle means so I found myself questioning what the graphicness of the scenes added.
An interesting film, with some innovative directorial touches, that I'm unlikely to watch again.