A Scottish Detective, Bruce Robertson, is not taking his divorce very well and his mind has become twisted and he becomes a jerk by doing things he finds humorous.
Blaine: James McAvoy had a feeling that “Filth” might be the type of movie that people would walk out on because he’s seen it before with one of his other movies. James has experienced seeing the audience in complete shock of what they are seeing on the screen and sometimes they’ll cry too. But what James McAvoy and the others wanted to do was entertain and to also make the audience feel uncomfortable at times. I just want to say if I saw “Filth” in theaters I would never walk out because I love it too much. It’s hilarious from beginning to end. Irvine Welsh, the author of the book, had been trying to have “Filth” be made into a film for fifteen years and he said it couldn’t have gone better when it was finally made.
The author thought that James McAvoy was too young and too good looking to play Bruce Robertson because the character in the book is supposed to be in his 40s, but James was really interested in the movie and he loved the script so much that he thought it was the best script he has ever read. James had talked with director Jon S. Baird and author Irvine Welsh and showed his take on the character. Irvine was really impressed of how James was acting like a crazy, sleazy, horrible person, so Irvine accepted James after that and both he and Jon high fived each other.
Imogen Poots’ character, Amanda, is the only one who sees through Bruce and is not fooled by his idiotic foolishness. She knows he needs help, tries to confront him and she takes her job very seriously. Imogen described Amanda as someone who is strong, assertive, feminine and is a strong part of the community.
I found it a coincidence that Frank, the guy with the fake head, was in the film because I had watched “Frank” for the first time that same week I watched “Filth”. James McAvoy found it strange that his “X-Men: First Class” co-star, Michael Fassbender was playing the character Frank Sidebottom in another film. Bruce is on vacation and he and his pal, Bladesey are looking at these little ships in the museum. It was actually a real museum and the people asked Jon S. Baird and the others to do one thing and that was not to drop the ship on the floor because the floor cost a fortune. The little ship cost a fortune as well so they had to shoot that scene once.
There’s a lot stuff in “Filth” that is hilarious, but my favorite is when Bruce and his co-workers go to a club and because Bruce believes one of them, Peter Inglis, is metro sexual he pays a guy to flirt with him. Peter is accused for being gay and gets into a bit of fight with one of the others. He gets knocked out and lands on the other guys crotch making it look like he is sucking his dick.
There’s a character named Mary, played by Joanne Froggatt, who Bruce shows his sweet side around. It starts off with Bruce trying to revive Mary's husband after he has a heart attack. Even though Mary's husband dies, still Bruce does everything he can and she really appreciates that. Bruce wants to be that good guy when Mary’s around him. Mary informs her son that she wants him to be more like Bruce because she believes he is a good person. At the end of the film it shows Mary and her son’s silhouettes at Bruce’s front door as Bruce has a rope around his neck. I guess if things went a little better for Bruce in the end, Mary could have been a new love interest for him and be the cause of his sanity. At least that’s what I feel.
Things do get a little dramatic and serious during the last half hour of the film because Bruce is exposed to be insane after being found wearing ladies clothes while his face bleeding. He doesn’t get to be a detective as well. Irvine said the scene with Bruce in the grocery store is a real heartbreaker because he sees his ex wife and daughter with another man. They look at him like he’s a disappointment and means nothing. Then he Mary shows up and sees he’s a wreck and she’s probably thinking that Bruce is not the man she thought he was. It becomes funny again at the end when Bruce is about to hang himself. He stops because he sees Mary and her son’s silhouettes at the front door, he laughs, then the chair breaks, he hangs and it takes less than a second to quickly cut to the end credits.
During the end credits it shows this little cartoon of a pig riding his bike and snorting milk. Director Jon S. Baird was thinking why not give everyone something light and fun at the end sense Bruce kills himself
