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Filth (film)

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This article is about the 2013 Scottish crime comedy. For the 2008 Finnish horror film, see Sauna (film).

Filth
A police officer riding an oversized bottle of whisky.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJon S. Baird
Screenplay byJon S. Baird
Produced by
  • Jon S. Baird
  • Mark Amin
  • Christian Angermayer
  • Will Clarke
  • Stephen Mao
  • Ken Marshall
  • Jens Meurer
  • Celine Rattray
  • Trudie Styler
StarringJames McAvoy
Jamie Bell
Joanne Froggatt
Imogen Poots
Eddie Marsan
Jim Broadbent
CinematographyMatthew Jensen
Edited byMark Eckersley
Music byClint Mansell
Production
companies
Steel Mill Pictures
Film i Väst
Distributed byLionsgate (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]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$9.1 million[2]

Filth is a 2013 Scottish crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Jon S. Baird, based on Irvine Welsh's novel Filth. The film was released on 27 September 2013 in Scotland, 4 October 2013 elsewhere in the UK and Ireland, 30 May 2014 in the United States.[3] It stars James McAvoy, Jamie Bell and Jim Broadbent.

Plot

Bruce Robertson is a Detective Sergeant in Edinburgh, Scotland who suffers from Bipolar disorder.[4] He is 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, a member of Robertson's masonic lodge whose wife, Bunty, he repeatedly prank calls and asks for phone sex.

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 over time, and Robertson descends into insanity. It is ultimately revealed through dream-like exchanges with Dr. Rossi, his psychiatrist, that he is on medication for bipolar disorder and is wracked with guilt over a tragic accident that led to the death of his younger brother during his childhood. It also becomes clear that Carole, his wife, had left him for another man some time prior to the film's events and is denying him access to his daughter, Stacey, 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, Robertson is captured by a gang led by Gorman — who are responsible for the murder — and badly beaten. However, he manages to kill Gorman by throwing him out a window and is found by his colleagues. Robertson not only misses out on the promotion as a result of the events, but is in fact demoted to Constable and is reassigned to uniform, while rookie Ray Lennox is promoted to Detective Inspector. Afterwards, Blades receives a tape of Robertson apologising. Robertson then prepares to commit suicide by hanging himself, but is interrupted by Mary, a woman whose husband Robertson attempted to save, and her son knocking on his front door. He then breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience repeating his catchphrase — "Same rules apply" — and laughs as the chair breaks under him.

Cast

Production

Welsh's novel was published in 1998, but over the following years the project was passed between producers and acquired a reputation of being "un-filmable".[5]

Reception

Box office

The film earned £250,000 in box office revenue during its opening weekend in Scotland, reaching number one in the charts.[6] It grossed £842,167 ($1.4m) in the following weekend, when it went on general release throughout the United Kingdom.[7] The film ultimately ended up grossing $9.1 million worldwide.[2]

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 63% of 81 critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 6.2 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Warped, grimy and enthusiastically unpleasant, Filth lives up to its title splendidly."[8] The film also has a score of 56 on Metacritic based on 24 reviews.[9]

References

  1. ^ "FILTH (18)". Lions Gate Entertainment. British Board of Film Classification. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Filth (2013)". The Numbers. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1450321/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_dt_dt
  4. ^ http://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/interviews/screening-the-obscene-irvine-welsh-on-filth
  5. ^ Ford, Matt (11 September 2013). "Irvine Welsh: The 'unfilmable' Filth finally makes it to the big screen". The Independent. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  6. ^ "Filth tops Scottish box office". The Scotsman. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  7. ^ Sandwell, Ian (7 October 2013). "Prisoners locks in UK box office lead". www.screendaily.com. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  8. ^ Filth at Rotten Tomatoes
  9. ^ "Filth". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
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