1990s drama film erotic thriller LGBTQ-related film

Crash

1996 · Canada, United Kingdom · 100 min

Director: David Cronenberg
Screenplay: David Cronenberg
Producer: Robert Lantos, Jeremy Thomas
Music: Howard Shore
Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky
Editing: Ronald Sanders
Production company: Crave, Telefilm Canada
Based on: Crash

What the critics say

66 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews53 Metacritic /100

Cast

What it is about

James Ballard, a film producer and advertising executive, is in an open marriage with his wife Catherine, and the two use the details of their outside encounters to fuel their own intimacy. One night, driving home from work, Ballard is involved in a head-on collision that kills the other driver. In hospital he meets again Dr. Helen Remington, the woman whose husband died in the crash, and the two start an affair built largely on their shared experience of the accident. Through Helen, Ballard is drawn into the orbit of Vaughan, a charismatic man who leads a circle of people fascinated by car crashes. Within that group, the characters' relationships grow more tangled, and the fascination with violence on the road becomes the film's central concern.

How it was made

The project began when producer Jeremy Thomas, who would later work with Cronenberg on Naked Lunch, urged him to read J. G. Ballard's 1973 novel. Cronenberg found it so disturbing that he could only get through half at first, before returning to it and recognising its strength. He wrote the screenplay himself, staying close to the book while inventing the ending and cutting some scenes. The setting moved from London to Toronto. Because of tight finances, the shooting script was kept deliberately short, around 77 pages, which allowed a slow, meticulous shoot. Howard Shore composed the score on a reduced budget, and Peter Suschitzky's cold, clinical photography suits the film's detached tone.

Reception and legacy

Crash caused intense controversy from its Cannes premiere, where it won a Special Jury Prize amid boos; Cronenberg later said that jury president Francis Ford Coppola had opposed it strongly. In Britain a tabloid campaign sought to ban it, but the board passed it uncut with an 18 certificate. In the United States, a delayed release and restrictions by some cinema chains fuelled further debate. Critics were divided, with some praising its daring and originality and others rejecting its violence and sexual content. Over time it has come to be regarded as one of Cronenberg's most singular and contested works, and it earned six Genie Awards in Canada.