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A David Cronenberg movie from the '90s had a scene so graphic it was banned all over the world

‘Crash’ faced bans in several countries, including parts of the UK and Norway, due to its graphic and controversial content

David Cronenberg’s ‘Crash’ is no ordinary film; it is arguably one of the most controversial films in history. When ‘Crash’ came out in 1996, it received an uproar from the international community as critics, governments, and viewers alike reacted loudly to what they felt was a shocking and disturbing movie. Behind the controversy lay an explicit and unsettling scene, in which a character engages in an erotic act with a scar on a woman’s leg. The film is an adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s 1973 novel, in which James, played by James Spader, recuperates from a car accident and becomes involved with a group of people who find their sexual gratification in car crashes. Cronenberg didn’t hesitate to show the intense and often disturbing intersection of violence and desire, but it was the infamous scar scene that truly crossed the line for many.

This is the scene where James has intercourse with a woman, engaging with a scar on her leg, a graphic moment so unconventional that it deeply unsettled audiences. Critics labeled the film exploitative and perverse, even going so far as to call it “beyond redemption.” The scene was considered so extreme that ‘Crash’ was banned in several countries, including parts of the UK and Norway.

However, David Cronenberg defended the film against those critics who felt that the film was pornography or at the very least purely erotic. He said that pornography was created to excite whereas ‘Crash’ was so much more than that. The film is sexual in nature but Cronenberg said that it is not created to be erotic or titillating in any way. The sex in the film is part of the story and is used to develop the characters and show the changes in them.

“Pornography is created to arouse you sexually and has no other purpose. It’s obvious Crash is not pornographic. People say it's sexual but not erotic, as though that was a criticism. The only time most people have seen sex scenes is in pornography. In most movies, the story stops, you have a sex scene, then the story continues,” he told, as per a blog on JG Ballard. “But there’s nothing to say you can’t use a series of sex scenes as a structural element -- things evolve and character is revealed. Why not? It's part of the narrative of one’s life.” For him, ‘Crash’ isn’t about sex; it’s about new forms of identity, desire, and human connection.

Nonetheless, the film sparked debate when it was first screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Some were in awe at Cronenberg’s daring vision; others were utterly outraged. Even the Cannes jury was divided, awarding the film a special prize for its daring originality but stopping short of giving it the prestigious Palme d’Or. The controversy didn’t end there. The movie was not shown in most theatres in the US and UK, while some other theatres permitted its showing under strict conditions. In several cinemas, there were security guards employed to ensure minors did not find their way in. “I really did find the response to my film in the UK to be a kind of strange island response. There’s a siege mentality in England, I think, and a fear of being contaminated,” maker of the film, Cronenberg told BBC.

‘Crash’, on the other hand, was defended despite the backlash. Over time, some people came to appreciate it for its look into trauma and human desire, and the complexity of scars both physical and emotional. Even Cronenberg once defended the explicit scene on the grounds that the movie isn’t about sex or shock value; it concerns transformation. He says the car accident in his story is not just a trigger for unusual sexual behavior, but a starting point for new forms of creativity, imagination, and perspective on life.

In fact, Cronenberg has even claimed that the film is an exercise in sexual initiation in no conventional sense at all.

“I would never interpret the movie that first way,” Cronenberg said, referring to the car sex scene, in an interview with Film Comment. “There is an element of initiation, but not necessarily sexual. It’s sort of initiation into an awareness and a slant on life. At the beginning of the film the sex is rather anodyne, it’s lost its power. It only regains some of its power when it’s connected to other forces that give it meaning life and dynamism. It’s sex against death; it’s eros and thanatos very definitely intermixing,” he added.

Despite all the controversy that surrounded it, the film grossed $2,664,812 domestically. Its international return was almost nil, with a total of $7,043. This put the worldwide total for the movie at $2,672,248. These figures are modest, but again reflect the polarizing nature of the film and its limited release due to bans and public outcry in many regions.