Despite being the very opposite of the horror that has characterised his cinematic work, according to David Cronenberg this was one of the films that had the greatest influence on his career. Shot at the University of Toronto, it features classmates from the director’s faculty in the roles of Doug and Peter, two students who develop a quasi-romantic friendship as they navigate the twists and turns of daily life. The gay subtext, in an era when homosexuality was still illegal, and the fact that it was the first English-language Canadian film to be shown at Cannes, make it an important landmark in the history of Canadian cinema.