After a string of stylish eat-the-rich comedies in 2022 (“Triangle of Sadness,” “The White Lotus,” “The Menu” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”), director Brandon Cronenberg answers Hollywood’s class-conscious call with the sci-fi horror flick “Infinity Pool,” which premiered on Jan. 22 at Sundance Film Festival.
Glamorous yet gruesome, Cronenberg’s third feature-length film packs an R-rated punch while cleverly unmasking the predatory hedonism of wealthy tourists.
The film follows James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård), a small-time author seeking inspiration on a vacation funded by his wealthy wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman). The emotionally estranged couple sojourns at a resort on the fictional island of La Tolqa, where events quickly take a turn for the worse.
James and Em become confined to the barbed-wired boundaries of the compound — inspired by Cronenberg’s own experience at an all-inclusive resort — until they meet another vacationing pair, Gabi and Alban (Mia Goth and Jalil Lespert), who lead them off the resort grounds and into legal trouble.
After James kills an island resident in a car accident, he faces a choice: be executed or pay a large sum to have a clone of himself killed. The catch is that he must watch the clone’s killing.
The film rests on this pivotal choice, as James dives headlong into escalating criminality, violence and drug use at Gabi’s behest.
Goth lords over a vulnerable (and equally marvelous) Skarsgård with devilish charm, cementing her spot as a darling of modern horror after her critically acclaimed role in A24’s “X” and “Pearl.” Also dazzling are the numerous drug-infused sequences, marked by psychedelic lighting and body horror shocking enough to match that of Cronenberg’s father (who pioneered the subgenre).
Bodily and moral corruption parallel each other as Cronenberg exposes the dark underbelly of unchecked privilege. The gang’s mounting derangement and offenses against the island residents point toward the film’s central concern: The uber-rich can buy their way out of accountability, albeit at the expense of their humanity.
Indeed, James’s sense of self crumbles as he succumbs to his darkest impulses. His money saves him from imprisonment, but with every get-out-of-jail-free card he witnesses his own death and deals with the psychological consequences.
Morality is no object for Gabi’s criminal cohort, nor is it for the La Tolqan government. The government takes foreigners’ money to the detriment of its citizens, who only benefit by way of catharsis: La Tolqans may kill the clone of their relatives’ murderer themselves.
The film contradicts its class conscious focus by only realizing the island’s residents in their capacity as executioners. Aside from scenes in which they kill, we only see La Tolqans as blurs on the side of a winding mountain road and as mystical, freakishly masked figures. Cronenberg gives surprisingly little screen time to the actual victims of the systemic exploitation that is the film’s basis.
To a degree, “Infinity Pool” exemplifies champagne socialism: Cronenberg critiques the exploitation carried out by the ultra-rich, though he himself is part of a family filmmaking dynasty, and his film does not create space for the poor.
Largely, though, Cronenberg stays true to his mission of laying bare the ugly realities of extreme wealth while also providing fodder for our existential qualms and technicolor nightmares.
‘Infinity Pool’ is playing in theaters nationwide.
