Prose to film

I think that having read a bit of Ballard's work makes the film more enjoyable and maybe even understandable. I haven't yet read The Atrocity Exhibition itself but quite a bit of his other work, including Crash, The Kindness of Women and Miracles of Life, all three of which give a bit of a context to the ideas in the film.

Ballard is one of my favourite authors; I love the way he sees the futuristic in present day normalities. A common flaw to many of his texts is repetition of the same few ideas, phrased in the same way, again and again. So in crash, flesh in constantly merging with the dashboard, just to give an example. This sometimes makes his prose a little abstract to a point where you feel the discomfort you may feel at a performance artist who is trying a little too hard. I found the same true in the film. The long prose passages delivered by the older professor on his investigations often border on the ridiculous and meaningless. Having said that, there were some real gems as well, like the description of the car towards the end of the film.

Also one of the only times I found pictures and shots of real dead people used in a meaningful way.