Filth (film)

Filth
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jon S. Baird
Produced by	Jon S. Baird Mark Amin Christian Angermayer Will Clarke Stephen Mao Ken Marshall Jens Meurer Celine Rattray Trudie Styler
Screenplay by	Jon S. Baird
Based on	Filth  by Irvine Welsh
Starring	James McAvoy Imogen Poots Jamie Bell Eddie Marsan Joanne Froggatt Shirley Henderson
Music by	Clint Mansell
Cinematography	Matthew Jensen
Editing by	Mark Eckersley
Studio	Steel Mill Pictures Film i Väst
Distributed by	Lionsgate (UK)
Release dates	16 September 2013 (2013-09-16) (Old Town Taito International Comedy Film Festival) 27 September 2013 (2013-09-27) (Scotland) 4 October 2013 (2013-10-04) (UK)
Running time	97 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£3 million[2]
Box office	£3.86 million [3]

Filth is a 2013 British crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Jon S. Baird, based on Irvine Welsh's novel Filth. It was released in Scotland on 27 September 2013 and was released in the rest of Britain and Ireland on 4 October 2013.

Plot

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in Edinburgh; a scheming, manipulative, misanthropic man who spends his time indulging in drugs, alcohol, sexually abusive relationships, and "the games" – his euphemism for the myriad foul plots he hatches directed at workmates. Robertson also delights in systematically bullying and taking advantage of his mild mannered friend Clifford Blades (Eddie Marsan), a member of Robertson's masonic lodge whose wife he repeatedly prank calls and harasses as part of one of his elaborate 'games' (transgressions for which he ultimately frames Blades himself).

Robertson's main goal in life is to gain promotion to Detective Inspector, the path to which appears to open when he is assigned to oversee the investigation into the murder of a Japanese student. He slowly loses his grip on reality as he works the case, however, suffering from a series of increasingly severe hallucinations. These hallucinations become worse as the film gets closer to the end and Bruce's mental health begins to fade into a state of insanity. It is ultimately revealed through dream-like exchanges with his psychiatrist (Jim Broadbent) that he is on medication for bipolar disorder, and wracked with guilt over a tragic accident which led to the death of his younger brother at some point in his childhood. It also becomes clear that his wife had left him for another man some time prior to the film's events and is denying him access to his daughter, developments which sparked his desperate bid for promotion, and also led him to start dressing as his wife when off duty in order to 'keep her close to him'.

While wandering the streets on such an occasion, he is taken by the gang responsible for the murder (which it is revealed that he witnessed at the start of film, but could not report to his colleagues for fear of disclosing his transvestism and problems at home) and badly beaten. He manages however to kill the leader by defenestrating him, and is found by his colleagues. Robertson not merely misses out on the promotion as a result of the events, but is in fact demoted to Constable and is reassigned to uniform. The film closes with Clifford watching a tape of Robertson apologizing that was left for him upon his release from jail. Robertson then prepares to commit suicide by hanging himself, but is interrupted by a woman and her son (two characters whom he'd met several times before) knocking on his front door. Robertson then breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience repeating his slogan - "Same rules apply" - and then the chair breaks under him.

Cast

• James McAvoy as Bruce Robertson
• Imogen Poots as Amanda Drummond
• Jamie Bell as Ray Lennox
• Eddie Marsan as Clifford Blades
• Joanne Froggatt as Mary
• Shirley Henderson as Bunty
• Jim Broadbent as Dr Rossi
• Emun Elliott as Peter Inglis
• Iain De Caestecker as Ocky
• Pollyanna McIntosh as Size Queen
• Kate Dickie as Chrissie
• Martin Compston as Gorman
• Gary Lewis as Gus Bain
• David Soul as Punter
• Ron Donachie as Hector
• Natasha O'Keeffe as Anna
• Shauna Macdonald as Carole Robertson
• Brian McCardie as Dougie Gillman
• Tracy-Ann Oberman as Diana
• John Sessions as Bob Toal

Reception

Box office

The film earned £250,000 in box office revenue during its opening weekend in Scotland, reaching number one in the charts.^[4] It grossed £842,167 ($1.4m) in the following weekend, when it went on general release throughout the United Kingdom.^[5]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 76% approval rating, based on reviews from 38 critics.^[6]

References

External links

• Official website
• Filth at the Internet Movie Database
• Filth at Box Office Mojo
• Filth at Rotten Tomatoes