A character in T2 Trainspotting (2017)

Veronika quotes from T2 Trainspotting (2017)

Anjela Nedyalkova
A line from Veronika

These are not goals. These are political statements. It's still there. I've been there myself several times. You know nothing. You understand nothing. You live in the past. Where I come from the past is something to forget but here it's all you talk about. You are clearly so in love with each other that I feel awkward in your company. Instead of looking at me you should get naked and **** each other.

Scenes with Veronika

4 scenes
Mark
[Mark and Simon are withdrawing cash from cashpoints]

And it's midnight. Start again.

Renton
[Mark, Simon and Veronika are driving on the M8 to Edinburgh in a BMW]

So, there's this room service guy, right? And he comes into the room, and there is Georgie Best lying on the bed with two Playboy models. Three in a bed, champagne and a little bit of Charlie, and there's banknotes. But they're lying on the banknotes.

Veronika

Lying on the money?

Mark

Yes.

Veronika

Why?

Mark

I don't know. Because he has a lot of money. Or at least he had a lot of money at the time, anyway. The room service guy, he comes in, and he sees this scene that I just described to you, and he says, "George Best..."

Simon

Greatest footballer of all time.

Mark

Exactly. "The greatest footballer of all time, I have to ask you, "'Where did it all go wrong?'" Where did it all go wrong? Where did it all go wrong? Where did it all go wrong, George Best?

Veronika

Yeah, but... I think that the room service guy, you know... I think he makes a very good point. No?
...

Mark
[Mark, Simon and Veronika are lounging in Mark's apartment]

He played for Hibs in 1979 between stints for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the San Jose Earthquakes. I went to see him play, apparently. My dad took me. He said, "You've got to see this. You've got to see this player. "Got to see this greatest footballer of all time." So it was a big game, it was a big crowd, and a big guy in front of me. I couldn't see a thing. Not a single thing. Not for 90 minutes. But I've got the program, so... I mean, I've always got that, you know?

Mark
[Mark points to archival footage of football fans on a flatscreen TV]

Thin. Thin. Nobody was fat back then.

Simon

It's not just the football, is it?

Mark
[Both talking over each other to Veronika]

It's the end of austerity. There was no such thing even as a calorie till 1974.

Simon

Welcome to the new age of civil rights, space exploration.

Mark

You know what happened in 1974? The first McDonald's in the UK.

Simon

He's basically John Barry with football boots.

Mark

See, look at that guy. He would be scrawny today.

Simon

A great, swaggering, filthy piece of music.

Mark

But then... That was totally normal till 1974. It's insurrection!

Simon

That's the beauty of what he does.

Mark

You know what happened in 1974? First McDonald's. South London. Woolwich.

Simon
[Veronika then gives a lecture in Bulgarian]

Cheers. Up your ass.

Mark

Placebo.

Simon

There's a ****...

Mark

Do it. Let's do it. **** off.

Simon

Yeah!

Mark

Yeah!

Lawyer

So, are you the woman in the video?

Veronika

My face is not seen.

Lawyer

Do you have any identifying marks? Tattoos on your buttocks?

Veronika

Certainly not.

Lawyer

On your perineum? [Veronika looks confused and Mark leans over to whisper]

Mark

It's the bit of skin between your vagina and your bumhole.

Viktoria

That's disgusting.

Lawyer

So you're not vajazzled. May I ask, what is your relationship with the accused?

Veronika

We are friends.
...

Lawyer
[Mark and Veronika are leaving for the door]

Mark. [Mark walks back over]

Lawyer

She's too young for you. [Mark walks away unimpressed]
...

Mark

Here it is. [Reading off laptop] "EU Small Business Development Loans. Zero-interest loans distributed regionally towards projects that stimulate regeneration of formerly industrial areas. Loans are available of up to 100,000. Applications should be made online, which may be followed by an invitation to present a business plan."

Simon

Blah, blah, **** blah.

Mark

I'm trying to help you, Simon. We're blowing all that cashpoint money on lawyer's fees.

Simon

You could've got someone cheaper.

Mark

Well, I wouldn't have had to get anyone at all if you hadn't engaged in **** blackmail. Is there anything left of your 4,000 I gave you?

Simon

No, I've got expenses, just like everyone else.

Mark

What, all of it? You snorted the whole **** wad?

Simon

It's called debt, Mark.

Mark

The point is, we need cash now, not in six months' time.

Simon

And you realize what's at stake here? I promised to set up a sauna for Veronika. And if I don't get it up and running soon, she's gonna leave me.

Mark

**** leave you anyway.

Simon

No, it's not gonna happen.

Mark

Is she actually even with you?

Simon

She's my girlfriend.

Mark

You've never ever been a normal junkie.

Simon

I have **** her, and I'll **** her again.

Mark

What? When she was working at the sauna?

Simon

That's not fair. You know, since we're having this conversation, I can tell you that fully consensual, emotionally driven, not-for-profit sexual intercourse has been attained.

Mark

Simon, you're a romantic.

Simon

Veronika and I have had our rough patches. I'll be the first to admit that.

Mark

Shall we submit this application?

Simon

Do what you want, but I need someone on-site working. I need progress. Now.

Veronika

Simon and I do not sleep together.

Mark

No? I had wondered.

Veronika

Once, but... I'm his girlfriend, but it's business, really. Simon is not a good person. But I like him. More than he likes himself, I think.

Mark

Right, but if you're not... If there's no physical aspect to your relationship, I mean, you don't want to be, like... You know, wasting your time.

Veronika

What's "choose life"?

Mark

What?

Veronika

"Choose life." Simon says it sometimes. He says, "Choose life, Veronika."

Veronika
[Mark does his "Choose Life" monologue updated for the 21st century]

I like you, Mark.

Mark
[Mark is doing loan application presentation to European Union Montary Fund]

This is the renovation and conversion of an iconic Leith building. We see it very much as being an artisanal bed-and-breakfast experience. A destination in its own right. Artworks by local artists on the walls. Locally sourced fresh food. Outreach programs to inspire children in school to think outside the box. To inspire in them a belief that... Yes, they can. There was a time when this port served thousands of ships around the globe. Now it can rise again. And we believe our business will occupy a central role, both physically and emotionally, at the heart of this new wave of regeneration in Leith.

Simon

Leith 2.1.

Mark

Exactly.
...

Murphy

We used to steal all this stuff. Fancy wallpaper. Sell on to the middle classes and that. Me and Mark used to steal all kinds of stuff, actually. Till we got caught. He got off. I got six months. Still, you find out what you're good at inside. Signatures... That's what I found out. Anyone's. If I seen it once, I can do it. So, when I got out, "Bye-bye, shoplifting. Hello, checkbook. Hello, check card. Up to Western Union. Signature, cash in hand. Up to Swanney's, pay off my debts, buy some skag. I was a portable **** goldmine.

Veronika

So, what happened?

Murphy

Chip and PIN, debit cards, e-banking. Billionaires moving money at the touch of a button. There's no room for an honest artisan like me anymore.

Veronika

So, what did you do?

Murphy

Back on the pavement. Seven days a week.

Veronika

I like your stories. I think you should write them down.

Murphy

You think?

Veronika

Yeah. Just write them the way you say them. They're funny. I would like to read them. Mark and Simon can help.

Murphy
[Murphy, Simon and Mark arrive by train to the same desolate stop as in the original film] [Voiceover reading from page]

"Tommy looks well. It's terrifying. He's gonna die. Sometime between the next few weeks and the next 15 years, Tommy will be no more. Chances are that I'll be exactly the same. Difference is we know this with Tommy. Tommy cannot get out.

Mark
[Reading aloud]

He cannot afford to heat his home, put himself in a bubble, live in the warm, eat good fresh food, keep his mind stimulate with new challenges. He will only live five or 10 or 15 years before he is crushed. Tommy will not survive winter in West Granton."
...

Simon

Well, I'm trying hard, Mark, but I'm not feeling anything. We were young. Bad things happened. It's over. Can we go home now?

Mark

Two hours to the next train.

Simon

Oh, for ****'s sake.

Mark

Look, we're here as an act of memorial.

Simon

Nostalgia. That's why you're here. You're a tourist in your own youth. Just 'cause you had a near-death experience, and now you're feeling all fuzzy and warm. What other moments will you be revisiting? Here's a good one. How about the time you sold Tommy his very first hit, leading him on to heroin addiction, HIV infection, and ultimately his death at the age of... What was it, 22, 23?

Mark

Twenty-three.

Simon

Twenty-three. How innocent was that?

Mark

Aye, that's mine. How's yours?

Simon

Don't know what you're talking about.

Mark

She'd be a woman by now. Maybe kids of her own. But she never got that far, did she? Never got to lead her life. Because her father, someone who should have been looking after her, protecting his own infant, was too busy filling his own veins with heroin to check that she was breathing properly. How do you keep a lid on that one?

Mark
[They take the train back and proceed to inject heroin with Murphy looking on tormented]

Well, that's that, then. Here we go.

Mark
[Simon and Mark have gone to a club and Mark goes to the washroom and is disgusted at the filthiness of a toilet, a previous film reference]

****'s sake.
...

Franco
[Franco settles himself into a booth]

All right, doll.

Girl

Thanks.

Franco

Looking good, baby.

Girl

Not bad yourself, daddy-o.

Franco

Why, bring it over here.

Girl

Really?

Girl

I'm not wearing any knickers.

Franco

For ****'s sake. Well, tell you what... Just away for a piss. Back in a moment. We'll see what's happening, okay?

Girl

All right, then.

Franco

Aye.

Other characters in T2 Trainspotting