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One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post-Showgirls, David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating was supposedly created to support. We’ll talk about how Crash fits into Cronenberg’s filmography, why it was controversial when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 and when it was released in the US in 1997, how it played into the UK general election of 1997, how it functioned as an early warning against charismatic billionaires, and how it embodied a post-Prozac and pre-Viagara moment.
David Cronenberg
SHOW NOTES:
Sources:
“The Examined Life Is Not Worth Living Either” by Michiko Kakutani, NY Times, Sept. 20, 1994
“Alternative Rockers Think Big, Uneasily” by Jon Pareles, NY Times, October 22, 1995
“Crash Rocks Cannes” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1996
“Cronenberg Tries to Clear Crash Site” by Louise Bateman. Hollywood Reporter, May 20, 1996
“CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK: Cannes Finally Gets a Noisy Controversy” by Janet Maslin, NYTimes, May 20, 1996
“Secrets and Lies' Wins the Top Prize at Cannes” by Janet Maslin, NY Times, May 21, 1996
Crash Cannes press conference, 1996
“Fine Line Faces Crash test” by Colin Brown, Screen International, May 24, 1996
Cronenberg and Ballard: Talking Crash 1996
“Planes, Trains & Auto(erotic)mobiles” by Elizabeth Pincus, LA Weekly, May 31 1996
“No Clash Over Crash NC-17” by Dan Cox, Variety May 31, 1996
“Swept Away” by Georgia Brown, Village Voice, June 4, 1996
“Ace of Spader” by Dennis Hensley, Detour Magazine, September 1996
“Director defends ‘perverted’ film” by Dalya Alberge, The Times of London, November 9, 1996
“No smooth ride for explicit 'Crash'” CNN, November 22, 1996
“Crash Barriers and Chinese Walls” by Charles Fleming, LA Weekly, December 6, 1996
“Censors to allow Crash to be screened in Britain” The Sunday Times of London, Dec 22 1996
“The Road To "Crash" by Tom Shone, New Yorker, March 9, 1997
“A Director Collides With the Proprieties” by Anthony Depalma, NY Times, March 19, 1997
“Crash Controversy” Los Angeles Times, March 21 1997
“Cronenberg on a ‘Crash’ Course With Eroticism” by Kenneth Turan, LA Times, March 21, 1997
“Sex & Wrecks” by Wade Major, Entertainment Today, March 21 1997
Crash Review by Roger Ebert, March 21, 1997
“Cold Leatherette” by Manhols Dargis, LA Weekly, March 24, 1997
“Crash’-ing The Theaters” Variety, March 24, 1997
“Kiss, Kiss—Kaboom! Some of today’s millennial filmmakers seem obsessed with sex and death as the ultimate highs” by Jack Kroll. Newsweek March 24, 1997
“Crash Test” by Amy Taubin, Village Voice, March 25, 1997
“An Orgy of Bent Fenders and Bent Love” by Janet Maslin, NY Times, March 21, 1997
“Unsettling Visions Of the Erotic” by Stephen Holden, NYTimes, March 30, 1997
“Just What Is the Film ‘Crash’ Driving At?” by Sallie Tisdale, LA Times, April 5, 1997
“Crash burned in West End” by Adam Dawtrey, Variety, May 22, 1997
“Star Vehicle” Time Out London, May 28, 1997
“Home Video” by Peter M. Nichols, NYTimes, Dec. 12, 1997
“Crash: The Family-Values Edition” Robs Movie Vault
“Dead Man’s Curve: David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash,’ 25 Years After Cannes” by Adam Nayman May 20, 2021
“A Director Collides With the Proprieties” by Anthony Depalma, NYTimes, March 19, 1997
A Chronology: Key Moments In The Clinton-Lewinsky Saga, All Politics, CNN, 1998
“Carnal Knowledge” by Dennis Lim, Village Voice, September 11, 2002
“David Cronenberg's Body Language” by Jonathan Dee, NYTimes, Sept. 18, 2005
http://www.dvdexotica.com/2015/05/cronenbergs-crash-lost-criterion.html
“David Cronenberg: 'Movies Were Made for Sex'” by Charles Bromesco The Guardian, Feb 27, 2020
https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Crash-(1996)#tab=summary
“David Cronenberg’s Dreams and Nightmares” by Adam Nayman, The New Yorker, June 3, 2022
Prozac Nation: Young and Depressed in America Paperback by Elizabeth Wurtzel
“Ever More Experimental: Crash” from David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grunberg
The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg by William Beard
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Rosanna Arquette, Crash, 1996.
Music:
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries and licensed music collections. The intro includes a clip from the film Casablanca.
Excerpts from the following songs were used throughout the episode:
Vik Fence Lardha - The Fence
Mill Wyrm - Potions
True Blue Sky - Bitters
Tessalit - Azalai
Stock Still - Reflections
One Quiet Conversation - K2
Launch Code - Kittyhawk
Song at the End of Times - Limoncello
Chai Belltini - Vermouth
Chams Pacer - Lemon Jelly
Thumbscrew - Sketchbook 2
Deixa - Orange Cat
Metropolis Calling - Kittyhawk
Smooth Edges - Lemon Jelly
James Spader and Deborah Kara Unger in Crash (1996)
David Spader, Crash, 1996
Credits:
This episode was written, narrated, and produced by Karina Longworth.
Our editor this season is Evan Viola.
Research and production assistant: Lindsey D. Schoenholtz.
Social media assistant: Brendan Whalen.
Logo design: Teddy Blanks.
Crash Cast James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Unger, Rosanna Arquette and Elias Koteas