Though they still sleep together, TV ad producer James Ballard and his wife Catherine have an open marriage. One night, James accidentally crashes into another vehicle; the accident kills the other car's driver but his wife, Dr Helen Remington, and James both survive with injuries. While recovering at the hospital, James encounters a mysterious scarred man, Vaughan, emerging from Helen's room. Out of hospital, James finds himself obsessed with road accidents to the point of being sexually excited by them. Meeting Helen, he finds she is the same; giving her a lift home, they stop and make love in the an airport carpark. Helen invites James to a recreation of James Dean's fatal crash, which is to be staged by Vaughan: there James meets Vaughan's similarly obsessed friends, stuntman Colin and his wife Vera, and the crippled Gabrielle. James introduces Catherine to Vaughan; the three of them later come across a road crash caused by Colin recreating the smash which killed Jayne Mansfield. Vaughan and Catherine have violent sex while James drives them through a carwash; later, in another car, James has sex with a wound in Gabrielle's leg!
Review:
Another extremely disturbing, controversial and hard-to-take film from David Cronenberg, whose own obsession with the dehumanising effect of technology is well-suited to the material provided by J. G. Ballard's novel. Not for everyone - some may find it downright sickening, and few will find it at all enjoyable, but as a study of obsession, it ranks up there with 'Vertigo'.
