The more I look at all the character Renton does in the film, I wonder if he doesn’t collapse under his own weight and if we are left with McGregor playing only a series of roles within the same persona. He begins the film, he punctuates it at the key moments, he brings it to an end; the other key characters are mediated through him; he comments, he narrates, he cracks jokes; he’s a bit of a bastard but he’s basically decent; he clearly has an addiction problem, yet he walks away apparently unscathed and smiling in the new dawn at the end. Is this guy REAL?
