Crash

EXT. AIRFIELD - DAY

We are moving through a small airfield full of parked light

planes. There are no people around. We move through the cluster of

planes towards a hangar on the edge of the field.

INT. HANGAR - DAY

We are still moving through light planes, but now we are inside

the hangar. Some of the planes have their engine covers open,

parts strewn around. Others are partially covered with tarps or

have sections missing. There is even a sleek executive jet parked

in one corner.

As we float past the planes we notice a woman leaning against the

wing of a Piper Cub, her chest against the wings trailing edge,

her arms spread out to each side, as though flying herself. As we

get closer we see that her jacket is pulled open to expose one of

her breasts, which rests on the metal of the wing.

CLOSEUP - Breast on metal.

CLOSEUP - Hard nipple and rivets.

CLOSEUP - WOMAN - CATHERINE

Early thirties, dark, short hair, stylish executive clothes. Her

eyes are wide open but unfocussed. A hand grips her shoulder from

behind. We follow the hand down behind Catherine and discover a

man crouched behind her, kissing her back.

Catherine is standing on a low mechanic's platform and her skirt

has been raised and hooked over the wing's flap. She wears garters

and stockings but no panties.

The man, handsome, cruel-looking, rises up behind her, enters her,

kisses her neck. Catherine half closes her eyes. She rotates her

pelvis gently against his thrusting.

EXT. FILM STUDIO - DAY

We are floating towards the modest gates of a small film studio -

the sign above the gates says "CineTerra" in Art Deco script

INT. FILM STUDIO - DAY

We now float through a film set on which a commercial for a min-

van is being shot. Lights are being reset, the van polished for a

beauty tracking shot.

We pick up an Assistant Director as he strides through the action,

looking for someone.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

I'm looking for James. Has anybody seen

James Ballard? You know who I mean? The

producer of this epic?

A Dolly Grip with very close-cropped hair looks up from a section

of dolly track which he is adjusting with small wooden wedges.

GRIP:

I think I saw him in the camera

department.

INT. FILM STUDIO - CAMERA ROOM - DAY

We float towards the door marked "Camera Dept." Inside the room we

find a young woman, a Camera Assistant, wearing a T-shirt and

heavy woolen socks and work boots and nothing else. She is draped

across a table strewn with camera parts, stomach down, head

resting on a black, crackle-finish camera magazine, her legs

spread.

Camera parts and cases, tripods, changing bags everywhere.

A man is behind her, kissing the backs of her thighs.

We hear the sound of the Assistant Director approaching with

deliberately heavy footsteps. The Assistant Director pauses just

outside the door.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (O.S.)

James? James, are you in there? Could we

please get your stamp of approval on our

little tracking shot?

The man, James, looks up from the woman's thighs.

JAMES:

Of course. Be there in a minute.

The Camera Girl twists around onto her back and throws her legs

over James's shoulders.

CAMERA GIRL:

It'll take more than a minute.

EXT. BALLARD APT. BALCONY - NIGHT

Catherine stands at the railing of the balcony of the Ballard

apartment, which overlooks a busy expressway near the airport. Her

arms are spread wide as they were in the airplane hangar, only

now, it is James, her husband, standing, who is behind her. They

are both half-naked, and he is inside her.

Their sex-making is disconnected, passionless, as though it would

disappear if they noticed it. An urgent, uninterrupted flow of

cars streams below them.

JAMES:

Where were you?

CATHERINE:

In the private aircraft hangar. Anybody

could have walked in.

JAMES:

Did you come?

CATHERINE:

No. What about your camera girl? Did she

come?

JAMES:

We were interrupted. I had to go back to

the set...

Catherine turns towards James and pulls open her blouse, exposing

her left breast. She pulls James's face down and presses her

nipple against his cheek.

CATHERINE:

Poor darling.

(pause)

What can I do about Karen? How can I

arrange to have her seduce me? She

desperately needs a conquest.

JAMES:

I've been thinking about that, about you

and Karen.

INT. DEPARTMENT STORE - LINGERIE - DAY

James lingers amongst racks of nightdresses outside a change

cubicle. Monitored by a bored, seen-it-all middle-aged saleslady,

James glances now and then through the curtains to watch Karen

help Catherine try on underwear.

Karen, Catherine's secretary, a moody, unsmiling girl, is

methodically involved in the soft technology of Catherine's

breasts and the brassieres designed to show them off.

Karen touches Catherine with peculiar caresses, tapping her

lightly with the tips of her fingers, first upon the shoulders

along the pink grooves left by her underwear, then across her

back, where the metal clasps of her brassiere have left a

medallion of impressed skin, and finally to the elastic-patterned

grooves beneath Catherine's breasts themselves.

Catherine stands through this in a trance-like state, gabbling to

herself in a low voice, as the tip of Karen's right forefinger

surreptitiously touches her nipple.

INT. UNDERGROUND PARKING LOT - DAY

James sits in the car beside his wife. She watches as his fingers

move across the control panel, switching on the ignition, the

direction indicator, selecting the drive lever, fastening his seat

belt.

As the car moves off, James puts his free hand between Catherine's

thighs.

INT. FILM STUDIO - JAMES'S OFFICE - NIGHT

James studies storyboards for an automotive battery commercial

which are spread out over a broad architects' table. He makes

notes on each panel of the boards with a sharp pencil.

As we move around him, we reveal his secretary Renata sitting and

watching him intently from the vantage point of her corner chair,

her hand poised to write down anything he might say in a small,

leather-bound notebook.

From her point of view, we watch James from behind as he works.

Every movement he makes - bending over to correct a panel,

manipulating the pencil, touching the sharp point of the pencil to

his lip, straightening up again - provokes a different tiny

response from Renata, so attuned to him is she.

But he says nothing to her, and she remains poised and vigilant.

EXT. FILM STUDIO PARKING LOT - NIGHT

James settles into his car - a boring American four-door sedan -

running through his control-panel routine like a pilot before

driving off. This time his routine ends with the switching on of

the windshield wipers because it has begun to rain heavily.

EXT. RAINSWEPT ROAD - NIGHT

Driving home from the studio, James hits a deep puddle at 60 miles

an hour and suddenly finds himself heading into the oncoming lane.

The car hits the central reservation with a thump and the offside

tire explodes and spins off its rim.

INT. JAMES'S CAR - NIGHT

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