Angelina Jolie to Al Pacino – 8 actors who have grippingly portrayed the horror of addiction on screen

Illegal drugs might too often be glorified by filmmakers, with decadent high rollers, flamboyant free spirits and fiendish, power-hungry gangsters among the most likely to imbibe a toke, line or hit on screen. But the very real devastation addiction can bring to everyday lives hasn’t been entirely ignored either – as these powerful portraits from the past 50 years of cinema prove, brought to life by heavyweight names from Al Pacino to Angelina Jolie, and Meg Ryan to Nicolas Cage.

The Panic in Needle Park (1971)

Soon before he became established as Hollywood’s archetypal angry/shouty police officer/mobster, Al Pacino made his film lead debut in this studied, brooding portrait of a heroin addict locked into a codependent relationship. Scenes are long and naturalistic, evoking a deep time-and-place intimacy without glamorising the lifestyle of an addict in the slightest. Nuanced and never off note, it’s a heartbreaking ride. Pacino himself suffered throughout much of his years with one of the most commonplace addictions of all – a lifelong smoker, as evidenced by the steady deepening of his trademark, ardent growl.

Christiane F. (1981)

Overshadowed by the appearance of and soundtrack by David Bowie, gritty German drama Christiane F. is a global cinema classic which has acquired deserved cult status in cinema circles. Based on the non-fiction account, We Children from Zoo Station, the movie zeroes in on the descent of 13-year-old Christiane Felscherinow (played by same-aged Natja Brunckhorst) into the murky depths of West Berlin’s late-70s drug counterculture. Experiments with clubbing and pills lead to a boyfriend, needles and heroin, and by 14 she is homeless and prostituting herself out of the infamous Bahnhof Zoo. Unforgettably harrowing.

When a Man Loves a Woman (1994)

Meg Ryan earned praise for her portrayal of a loving mum and school counsellor with a drinking problem in this atypical Hollywood tear-jerker. An inebriated incident prompts an intervention from husband Michael, played by Andy García, leading to hospitalisation, and a fractured family dynamic which millions could empathise with. The final redemptive scene might leave you in tears.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Nicolas Cage might rank among Tinseltown’s most hit-and-miss leading men, but this confessed tortured soul hit an early career high in his shattering portrayal of Ben Sanderson, the semi-autobiographical protagonist of John O’Brien’s novel. Having lost his job, family and friends to alcoholism, the Hollywood screenwriter takes his severance cheque to Las Vegas to, essentially, drown his sorrows until death. This cheery little number should not be confused with the hallucinogenic fireworks of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – a very different portrait of Sin City substance abuse (loosely) based on Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo memoirs and starring a typically trippy Johnny Depp.

Gia (1998)