Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Sex and Relationships, UK News, World News
A prize-winning film from 1996 provoked such a visceral reaction that multiple countries banned it from playing in their cinemas.
Based on J. G. Ballard's 1973 novel of the same name, a movie directed by David Cronenberg was considered so scandalous when it first came out that it wasn't even allowed to be shown in certain theaters - and there was even a petition launched to ban it worldwide. Prepare to feel a blush brewing if you dare watch the trailer:
Despite winning a prize at Cannes Film Festival, the movie was booed by audiences who attended a screening at the prestigious event.
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Cronenberg even claimed it was blocked from being awarded the Palme d'Or by The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola.
The film was passed by the British Board of Film Classification but the decision was overruled by Westminster Council who banned it from being shown in certain areas of London, joining managers of several theaters in Ohio and Norway who banned it from playing in their cinemas.
And so graphic - in many ways - was the movie, right-wing UK newspaper The Daily Mail started a campaign to have it banned completely.
But how could one movie be that bad? Well...
Titled Crash, the film centers around a married couple in an open relationship who are dissatisfied with their sex life.
That is, until one of them is involved in a near fatal car crash and finds that the experience gets his engine running, so to speak.
The couple then end up meeting with others who share their outlook on relationships.
While it's not a massive surprise the film ultimately contains a sex scene or two, what led to it receiving such a visceral reaction was just how graphic, violent and sometimes disturbing those scenes are.
So if you're not the type into graphic sex scene descriptions, avert your eyes.
One particularly graphic scene involves a man having sex with a woman by penetrating a scar on her leg - the result of an injury sustained during a car crash.
The conclusion of the film also implies the thrill-seekers wish to actually die in a car crash as the final goal of their fetish.
So yeah, basically, the film is a lot.
At the time, film critic Roger Ebert called Crash 'challenging, courageous, and original', 'strange and insightful', and a 'dissection of the mechanics of pornography'.
The critic added: "I admired it, although I cannot say I 'liked' it."
Ultimately, The Daily Mail failed in its campaign to have the film completely banned. And if it sounds up your street - or you're just intrigued - Crash is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the US.
