A poet falls in love with an art student, who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle — and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
Acting
Ledger's twitchy, tender physicality—every gesture screams need.
Writing
Dialogue that romanticizes and horrifies in the same breath.
Cinematography
Warm golds rotting into clinical blues—visual relapse.
Director
Neil Armfield
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Heath Ledger learned to cook heroin on set from real users; the needle marks were real bruises from multiple takes.
The film adapts Luke Davies' autobiographical novel—he makes a cameo as the man on the train platform in the opening.
AU
