Sid and Nancy are punk music anti-heroes. Very aptly they are famous for having lived short, debased, meaningless lives during the fleeting heydays of punk.
Sid was chosen as a Sex Pistols band member by Malcom McLaren, the businessman who created the band as a cash cow. Sid was destructive and untalented and it is said that McLaren would have preferred to have him as singer over Rotten, because Sid was the true image of punk. While the Sex Pistols had their five minutes in the sun Sid met groupie Nancy, a disturbed American girl, diagnosed with schizophrenia who was making a living with prostitution and drugs dealing.
It was love at first sight and just like the decadent version of the Beatles, Nancy played Yoko Ono to the band. She was universally despised for her vile temper but still managed to get a hold on Sid. The Pistols embarked on their short-lived American tour and dissolved after a few gigs. Left to his own device Sid had Nancy coming over to New York, sang a few gigs at Max's and then the two spent their last months together doing drugs and living in squalor at the Chelsea hotel. Eventually Nancy got stabbed in the stomach (probably by Sid, in a haze of drugs) and died of blood loss on the bathroom floor.
Sid outlived her only a handful of months, predictably overdosing after having been released on bail and awaiting trial. Oldman does a good job as Sid and the general squalor of the punk lifestyle is well depicted, but some parts drag on way too long and even if the film does not glorify its subjects, they still look sort of "cool" in a twisted way. Allegedly, Rotten complained that the plot has nothing to do with reality, but he didn't bother to offer his revised version.
Sid was chosen as a Sex Pistols band member by Malcom McLaren, the businessman who created the band as a cash cow. Sid was destructive and untalented and it is said that McLaren would have preferred to have him as singer over Rotten, because Sid was the true image of punk. While the Sex Pistols had their five minutes in the sun Sid met groupie Nancy, a disturbed American girl, diagnosed with schizophrenia who was making a living with prostitution and drugs dealing.
It was love at first sight and just like the decadent version of the Beatles, Nancy played Yoko Ono to the band. She was universally despised for her vile temper but still managed to get a hold on Sid. The Pistols embarked on their short-lived American tour and dissolved after a few gigs. Left to his own device Sid had Nancy coming over to New York, sang a few gigs at Max's and then the two spent their last months together doing drugs and living in squalor at the Chelsea hotel. Eventually Nancy got stabbed in the stomach (probably by Sid, in a haze of drugs) and died of blood loss on the bathroom floor.
Sid outlived her only a handful of months, predictably overdosing after having been released on bail and awaiting trial. Oldman does a good job as Sid and the general squalor of the punk lifestyle is well depicted, but some parts drag on way too long and even if the film does not glorify its subjects, they still look sort of "cool" in a twisted way. Allegedly, Rotten complained that the plot has nothing to do with reality, but he didn't bother to offer his revised version.