“First, there's an opportunity. Then... there's a betrayal.”
Okay, well, now you’re all caught up with the original Trainspotting. There came an opportunity. The opportunity was exploited. Then there was betrayal. Renton’s back in town and has he got some s’plaining to do. Because, you see, he was the betrayer. Of course, it should be mentioned that Spud’s philosophical observation comes at a very tense moment and that it could just as equally pertain to other opportunities. Other betrayals.
“Choose life was a well-meaning slogan from a 1980's anti-drug campaign and we used to add things to it, so I might say for example, choose... designer lingerie, in the vain hope of kicking some life back into a dead relationship.”
Arguably, the most famous line associated with the original Trainspotting was Renton’s monologue riffing on the theme of “Choose life.” It is practically impossible to think of the original without thinking of “Choose life.” And, of course, anyone who was of age to see the film when it first came out immediately knew to what it referred. Veronika, however—to whom Renton is speaking as he answers her question “What’s choose life”—was probably around five or six back in the days when Renton and his buddies used to add things to it. Thus, her seemingly astounding ignorance.
“I like your stories. I think you should write them down. Yeah. Just write them the way you say them. They’re funny. I would like to read them.”
A bit of foreshadowing with a dose of meta. The stories that Veronika finds entertaining are the stories about Spud’s youth. And when collected together, the stories appear to be headed toward a book that may stand little chance of being published, but a book nonetheless.
“I thought of a title.”
The last line of dialogue in the movie as Spud’s wife is looking through his writings. Renton is seen telling Simon (Sick Boy) that Spud has been writing down his stories just like Veronika suggested. Simon wonders aloud who is going to read them, Renton says that is the problem. And then a cut to another place, another time has Gail, looking through the stack of papers, and announcing she’s thought of a title. A cut to Spud’s bewildered expression, impossible to tell exactly what he’s thinking. The implication, of course, is that we already know what that title is going to be.
