Alex Cox’s film about the lives, love and death of Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) and Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb) falls into two halves. The first half is a run-through of the key events in the existence of the Sex Pistols. Although the film's eye for period detail is sharp (note the “Labour Isn’t Working” poster in the background of one scene), the film tends to assume a knowledge of the cultural context which gave birth to the Pistols: the Seventies hangover after the Sixties, nihilism and disillusionment, a sense that the music of the time was stale. Although most of the famous events are covered (live swearwords on the Today show, the Silver Jubilee concert, the American tour), this part of the film tends towards the superficial. There are also question marks about its accuracy, of which more later. The film is on much surer ground after the Pistols' break-up. Sid and Nancy are holed up in the Chelsea Hotel, increasingly strung out on drugs, while Sid struggles to establish a solo career.

If we didn't know it already from life, we know this story ends badly from the opening scene, where Nancy's body is wheeled out and Sid is questioned by the police. Sid and Nancy is downbeat to say the least, but Cox's use of black humour saves it from being depressing. Sid and Nancy are not played for any sympathy at all: it's clear from the start that they are two seriously screwed-up, none-too-bright individuals, and the voice Chloe Webb gives Nancy has to be one of the most intentionally grating in the history of cinema. But, remarkably, Cox, his co-writer Abbe Wool, and his two superb lead actors, show that they are worthy of our sympathy after all. There's something touchingly childlike about the couple, and their end, though inevitable, is still painful to watch.

This remains one of Oldman's finest performances and is easily in a different league to anything Webb has done since (which includes horrible miscasting in The Belly of an Architect and playing Arnie's love interest in Twins). Further down the cast you'll find Courtney Love, and Kathy Burke (in a blonde wig) and director-to-be Sara Sugarman as punk followers. This was Alex Cox's second film, and far more than his overrated debut Repo Man, it remains his best. The music is, needless to say, very good indeed, from excellent facsimiles of the Pistols in concert to a terrific Joe Strummer track, "Love Kills" (the film's original title), that plays over the end credits.

This DVD is up to Criterion's usual standards, which means it's very good indeed. The transfer, which for some reason begins with the BBFC 18 cinema certificate, is non-anamorphic 1.75:1, supervised by the director of photography Roger Deakins. It's a superb and very sharp transfer. The only reasons it fails to get five stars are some noticeable artefacting in the "My Way" scene (have a look at the staircase), and occasional lack of shadow detail. The reason for these is probably the fact that the disc isn't anamorphic, which was Criterion's policy until 1999. The sound is the original Dolby Surround. It's quite an elaborate sound mix, with the surrounds well used, especially in concert footage and a scene where Sid is waiting outside a pub in a thunderstorm. The only quibble is that it doesn't quite have the sharpness and dynamic range that a Digital 5.1 track would. Again, this is Criterion's general policy: to present the film as its original audience would have heard it.

The extras are as carefully chosen as you might expect from a Criterion DVD. Thge most notable absentee from the commentary, indeed from anything to do with the disc at all, is Alex Cox. However, the line-up comprises co-writer/associate producer/kitten wrangler Abbe Wool, Oldman and Webb, critic Greil Marcus, filmmakers Julien Temple (The Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle and The Filth and the Fury)and Lech Kowalski (the punk documentary D.O.A.), and musician Eliot Kidd. This commentary is often quite critical of the film it accompanies, with Temple early on describing the depiction of the Pistols as often "laughably wrong". There's a discussion on the role and place of dramatic licence, especially in a film based on such recent events, particularly when viewed by people who were there, such as Temple and Marcus. The commentary is more about the Sex Pistols, Sid and Nancy and the issues raised by the film, than the film itself, but it's often interesting and is tightly edited.

The notorious interview by the late Bill Grundy on the Today show is presented in its entirety. Repeated showings have tended the blunt the shock value that this episode had. The F-word had made unscheduled appearances on live TV before, but its users (Kenneth Tynan in 1965 and Peregrine Worsthorne in 1973) had been maverick establishment figures. It's easy to forget how scared people were of the Sex Pistols at the time: the Today episode spurred the famous "Filth and the Fury" headline and apparently provoked one man to kick in his TV set. Wide-scale banning followed, leading to the episode where the singles chart was allegedly rigged so that "God Save the Queen" would not be Number One in Jubilee week. It all looks a little quaint now, with Grundy obviously baiting the Pistols ("Go on, say something outrageous"). Due to problems with clearing music rights, a performance clip is overdubbed.

"England's Glory" is a behind-the-scenes documentary (running 30:16) made during the British shoot. It's not without interest, though is somewhat shambolically organised. Its value as historical record is jeopardised by the fact that several people (notably Cox and David Hayman, who plays Malcolm McLaren) are obviously playing to camera. Four brief performance clips are overdubbed, for the same reasons as with the Today clip. The other extras include extracts (9:58) from D.O.A featuring the real Sid and Nancy, with Sid virtually comatose and frequently falling asleep, and a telephone interview with Sid Vicious by photographer Roberta Bayley, which runs 12:50. Aside from their status as historical documents, these are less interesting in themselves than to show how convincing Oldman and Webb are in the roles. The only things missing are the trailer (which appears to be the only extra on the forthcoming MGM disc) and any subtitles. There are twenty-five chapter stops.

As you might expect, a fictional treatment of punk rock will not be for everyone, and a huge amount of profanity may offend. Sid and Nancy does make demands on the audience's tolerance for its subject matter, but it does pay off, especially in the second half. Criterion have done their usual first-rate job, producing a DVD package that's a stunning job by anyone's standards except maybe their own. Even so, this must still be the definitive version of this film.

Gary Couzens