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Young Adam

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© Warner Bros 2003

Synopsis

Set in a steamy Glasgow of the early 1950s, the film focuses on the existential crisis of Joe (Ewan McGregor), a rootless young drifter who finds work on a barge owned by the down-to-earth Les (Peter Mullan) and his enigmatic wife Ella (Tilda Swinton). One afternoon Joe and Les happen upon a corpse of a young woman floating in the water. Accident? Suicide? Murder?

As the police investigate the case and a suspect is arrested, it becomes evident that Joe knows more about the drowned woman than he is letting on. Meanwhile, against the background of this mysterious death and the 'murder' investigation, Joe and Ella embark on an intimate and passionate affair.
 
Tim Cumming, writing in The Guardian, 8 August 2003:
Alexander Trocchi was the smack-addled icon of beat literature, whose writings have been eclipsed by a lurid life of porn, pimping and dissolution in New York, Paris and London. But with a new film out adapted from his novel Young Adam, the Glasgow-born writer's life and work are ripe for re-evaluation.

 
 

Details

Year
2003
Type of film
Features
Running Time
97 mins
Format
35mm
Director
David MacKenzie
Producer
Alexandra Stone, Nick O’ Hagan, Tim Reeve
Editor
Colin Monie
Screenwriter
David MacKenzie
Director of Photography
Giles Nuttgens
Music
David Byrne
Principal Cast
Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan, Emily Mortimer

Production status

Complete

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Last updated 26th November 2005

Production Company

Recorded Picture Company
24 Hanway Street
London W1P 9DD
UK

T+44 (0)20 7636 2251
F+44 (0)20 7636 2261

info@recordedpicture.com

Sales
Company

Hanway
24 Hanway Street
London W1T 1UH
UK

T +44 (0)20 7290 0750
F+44 (0)20 7290 0751

jls@hanwayfilms.com
http://www.hanwayfilms.com