The film was shown at festivals in Italy, the United States and Canada in September, and originally released in Ireland and the UK in October 1992, where it failed at the box office. Director Neil Jordan, in later interviews, attributed this failure to the film's heavily political undertone, particularly its sympathetic portrayal of an IRA fighter. The bombing of a pub in London is specifically mentioned as turning the English press against the film.[10]
The then-fledgling film studio Miramax Films decided to promote the film in the U.S. where it became a sleeper hit. A memorable advertising campaign generated intense public curiosity by asking audiences not to reveal the film's "secret" regarding Dil's gender identity.[6] Those surveyed by CinemaScore on opening night gave the film a grade "B" on a scale of A+ to F.[11] Jordan also believed the film's success was a result of the film's British–Irish politics being either lesser-known or completely unknown to American audiences, who flocked to the film for what Jordan called "the sexual politics".
The film earned critical acclaim and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Actor (Rea), Best Supporting Actor (Davidson) and Best Director. Writer-director Jordan finally won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film went on to success around the world, including re-releases in Britain and Ireland.
Critical reception
The Crying Game received worldwide acclaim from critics. The film has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 73 reviews, with an average rating of 8.30/10. The consensus states, "The Crying Game is famous for its shocking twist, but this thoughtful, haunting mystery grips the viewer from start to finish."[12] On the review aggregator website Metacritic the film has a score of 90 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[13]
Roger Ebert awarded the film a rating of four out of four stars, describing it in his review as one that "involves us deeply in the story, and then it reveals that the story is really about something else altogether" and named it "one of the best films of 1992".[14]
Richard Corliss, in Time magazine, stated: "And the secret? Only the meanest critic would give that away, at least initially." He alluded to the film's secret by means of an acrostic, forming the sentence "she is a he" from the first letter of each paragraph.[15]
Much has been written about The Crying Game's discussion of race, nationality, and sexuality. Theorist and author Jack Halberstam argued that the viewer's placement in Fergus's point of view regarding Dil being a transsexual reinforces societal norms rather than challenging them.[16]
David Cronenberg stated that he was disappointed by M. Butterfly's reception and felt that it was overshadowed by The Crying Game.[17] He said that the films paralleled each other as both were transsexual, transracial, and transcultural. He was critical of The Crying Game stating that the film "copped out" and that "the Stephen Rea character should have killed the black soldier" as it "would have made the movie so much more powerful because his guilt would have been so much greater".[18]
The Crying Game was placed on over 50 critics' ten-best lists in 1992, based on a poll of 106 film critics.[19]
Box office
The film grossed £2 million ($3 million) in the United Kingdom.[20] In the United States and Canada it was more successful, grossing $62.5 million.[20] Based on its US gross, it was the most successful film of the year on a cost to US gross basis.[3] It grossed a total of $71 million worldwide.[3]
