THE FLY - CRONENBERG PRAISES FRANCE DURING HONOUR CEREMONY

CRONENBERG PRAISES FRANCE DURING HONOUR CEREMONY

THE FLY director DAVID CRONENBERG has received France's highest accolade, the Legion d'honneur, and thanked the nation for understanding the "complexity of the artistic process".
The auteur, famed for his grizzly and shocking cinematic style, was honoured in his native Toronto, Canada by Francois Delattre, the country's French Ambassador, who presented the star with the coveted award.
The prize recognises Cronenberg's film accomplishments and his services to French culture.
And as he accepted the honour, the moviemaker - who won the Cannes Film Festival's Special Jury Prize in 1996 for the movie Crash - . told his audience that he would not have been the creative force he is without the French culture as inspiration.
He explained, "Thank you all for your indulgence. Vive la France, vive le Canada et vive la cinema.
"I see this medal as a talisman, an amulet with magical powers that makes it a shield against punishment, punishment for the committing of the crime of art.
"France has always understood the complexity of the artistic process - the tension that exists between the innate wildness of art and the desired order of society."