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Crash

  • 19961996
  • NC-17NC-17
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
60K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,053
26
Holly Hunter and James Spader in Crash (1996)
Drama
After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they pr... Read allAfter getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
60K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,053
26
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • David Cronenberg
    • Writers
      • J.G. Ballard(novel "Crash")
      • David Cronenberg
    • Stars
      • James Spader
      • Holly Hunter
      • Elias Koteas
    Top credits
    • Director
      • David Cronenberg
    • Writers
      • J.G. Ballard(novel "Crash")
      • David Cronenberg
    • Stars
      • James Spader
      • Holly Hunter
      • Elias Koteas
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 329User reviews
    • 136Critic reviews
    • 50Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
    • Awards
      • 9 wins & 6 nominations

    Videos1

    Crash
    Trailer 1:58
    Crash

    Photos151

    Rosanna Arquette in Crash (1996)
    James Spader and Deborah Kara Unger in Crash (1996)
    Deborah Kara Unger in Crash (1996)
    James Spader and Deborah Kara Unger in Crash (1996)
    James Spader in Crash (1996)
    James Spader in Crash (1996)
    Holly Hunter in Crash (1996)
    David Cronenberg in Crash (1996)
    Crash (1996)
    Crash (1996)
    Crash (1996)
    Holly Hunter and James Spader in Crash (1996)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Spader
    James Spader
    • James Ballard
    Holly Hunter
    Holly Hunter
    • Helen Remington
    Elias Koteas
    Elias Koteas
    • Vaughan
    Deborah Kara Unger
    Deborah Kara Unger
    • Catherine Ballard
    • (as Deborah Unger)
    Rosanna Arquette
    Rosanna Arquette
    • Gabrielle
    Peter MacNeill
    Peter MacNeill
    • Colin Seagrave
    Yolande Julian
    • Airport Hooker
    Cheryl Swarts
    • Vera Seagrave
    Judah Katz
    Judah Katz
    • Salesman
    Nicky Guadagni
    • Tattooist
    Ronn Sarosiak
    • A.D.
    Boyd Banks
    Boyd Banks
    • Grip
    Markus Parilo
    • Man in Hanger
    Alice Poon
    • Camera Girl
    John Stoneham Jr.
    John Stoneham Jr.
    • Trask
    David Cronenberg
    David Cronenberg
    • Auto Wreck Salesman
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    Jordan-Patrick Marcantonio
    • Man in Tattoo Parlor
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • David Cronenberg
    • Writers
      • J.G. Ballard(novel "Crash")
      • David Cronenberg
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Sex scenes between James Ballard and his secretary were filmed but cut because director David Cronenberg felt the actors' chemistry was too good, contravening the nature of all the other relationships in the film.
    • Goofs
      After Vaughan repeatedly crashes the left front bumper of his Lincoln into a junker James Ballard is sitting in, causing major damage to the bumper and the lights, Vaughan is soon shown driving on the highway with no damage to the bumper and both left lights operational.
    • Quotes

      [Last lines]

      James Ballard: Katherine, are you all right?

      Catherine Ballard: James. I don't know.

      James Ballard: Are you Hurt?

      Catherine Ballard: I think I'm all right...

      [James starts groping and kissing her]

      Catherine Ballard: ... I think I'm all right.

      James Ballard: Maybe the next time, darling. Maybe the next time.

    • Alternate versions
      According to Issue 58 of Film Ireland magazine, the Irish censors imposed 35s worth of dialogue cuts on the cinema release - this affected the sex scene where Catherine fantasizes about Vaughn to James. It's speculated this was actually done not due to the content, but to dissuade the distributors from submitting the uncut version on video (which could cause controversy in a less restricted environment) - however, all video releases are uncut and still rated 18.
    • Connections
      Featured in Late Review: Censorship and Cronenberg 's Crash (1996)

    User reviews329

    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    An anti-erotic exploration of the hollowness of modern life
    Crash is a very sexually explicit film, but if you buy or rent this movie expecting it to be an evening's erotic entertainment, you are going to be disappointed, because it is also an anti-erotic film.

    Even in the midst of frenzied lovemaking, the characters remain distant, their voices quiet and abstracted, their gazes directed inward. These are people who have been told all their lives by their culture, by TV and movies, that sex is, on the one hand, the most perfect form of communion and connection with another human being; and, on the other hand, that it is the ultimate in transcendent and transformative experiences. Instead, they discover to their horror that even during sex they still feel nothing. They crave connection, they are starved for a glimpse of transcendence, but no matter what they do, no matter who they do it with or how often, while their bodies may feel passion, their minds and hearts remain cold and empty.

    In the more recent movie Pleasantville, the Jennifer/Mary Sue character is unable to feel anything either, and remains stubbornly black and white no matter how much sex she has, until her brother suggests that "maybe it isn't the sex" that is the key to moving from black and white to color, from passionlessness to feeling. Unfortunately, in Crash, there is no one to suggest to David and Catherine Ballard that maybe it isn't through sex that they will find the transformation and connection they are craving. So they instead seek more and more extreme forms of sexual stimulation, only to be disappointed again and again.

    James is hurt in a car crash, and during his stay in the hospital he meets Helen (who was in the other car) and later Vaughan, a man who like James and Catherine is in desperate search of feeling, only he looks for it in the violence of car crashes. With Helen, at first James, then Catherine too is drawn into Vaughan's world, where sex and death (eros and thanatos for you Freudians) meet in the twisted metal of wrecked cars and the mutilated bodies of the victims of fatal car crashes and the survivors of near-fatal ones.

    They attend staged recreations of famous car crashes, like the one that killed James Dean. They have sex in crashed cars, and start touring crash sites on the freeway as a form of foreplay. They begin to watch films of crash tests and fatal race accidents like other people would watch erotic films, and to have sex with people whose bodies have been mutilated by car crashes.

    But not even the horror of mutilation or the adrenaline rush of near-death experience can lend James and Catherine's desperate coupling the depth of feeling that they so desperately crave.

    Like all the people who buy expensive automobiles to give them a feeling of power and independence, only to discover that no matter how snazzy their car is, they still feel powerless and unhappy, James and Catherine have bought into one of our culture's Big Lies, that sex is the answer. This film shows us that it is not.
    helpful•275
    37
    • Glaurung (academic dragon)
    • Dec 13, 1999

    FAQ1

    • What are the differences between the R-Rated cut and the NC-17 version of the movie?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 21, 1997 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Canada
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • Swedish
    • Also known as
      • Çarpışma
    • Filming locations
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Alliance Communications Corporation
      • Recorded Picture Company (RPC)
      • The Movie Network (TMN)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $9,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,664,812
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $738,339
      • Oct 6, 1996
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,671,855
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 40 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby
      • SDDS
      • Dolby Digital

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