Crash (1997)

Genre: psychological drama
Director: David Cronenberg
Release: 1997
Studio: Fine Line Features - Alliance Atlantis
Rating: NC-17
MBiS score: 7.0/10


A Fender Bender and Love not Tender


Catherine and James make a very blasé couple, so much so that extramarital sex can’t rev them up and even discussing their infidelities doesn’t arouse anything in them. One night though, when James causes a terrible accident, his juices come to a boil. He has discovered a turn-on worth sharing with his wife : heaps of torn metal, lurid sex and the distinct odour of death.

Such a premise is bound to jolt you and, of course, this is what David Cronenberg had in mind when he whipped up this odd and perverse film that catches your eye like a roadside wreck... one of those human spectacles that most of us will be tempted to watch out of curiosity, empathy or, dare I say, voyeurism. This dark streak is by far CRASH’s most salient and effective feature, that and its clinical cinematography exploiting cars for their sexual connotations, their life-affirming and life-threatening mystique.

The film plays out like a macabre joke about bumping and humping and, at first, it truly hits home with a vengeance, especially that blood-chilling daredevil show orchestrated by a suitably creepy Elias Koteas. Unfortunately, CRASH's shock value wanes rapidly after its initial wallop and all you are left with is a series of grotesque and redundant sex sketches more laughable than really interesting. The main characters are scantily developed (for instance, we learn nothing about Catherine except that she wants to become a pilot… quite a reassurance for air traffic controllers!), a few thought-provoking ideas are discarded as swiftly as they are evoked (the tattoo) and the introduction of new characters seeking carnal tune-ups only serves as a variation on themes already established. Mutilation is in, nihilism also… but what about lube jobs? Let’s keep that one for a sequel. Still, I’ll put in a good word for actors Deborah Kara Unger and James Spader as the twisted couple and give credit to Rosanna Arquette for her prosthetic heroics.


Ultimately, I won't deny that CRASH has technical merit but it is also a slow, pretentious and one-dimensional picture. Recommended only for benign psychopaths, as the script aptly suggests. Sorry!


MBiS

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