After winning the Special Jury Prize in Cannes, Cronenberg’s film adaptation of the controversial J.G. Ballard novel was released in cinemas and didn’t leave much room for neutral reactions. Shot in cold, metallic tones and draped in an atmosphere of emotional alienation, the story revolves around a group of people sexually obsessed with car crashes. The connection between sex and technology, or the merging of the body and the machine, is not a new theme in Cronenberg’s oeuvre, but in Crash it boldly breaks genre rules. This proved to be too awkward for many of his followers at the time, but has also sealed the iconic status of this work, which is still as strong as 20 years ago.