Infinity Pool explores the illusory boundary between what we do and who we are. It’s a bold, brutal film that will stick in your head long after the blood dries.
We join struggling writer James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wealthy wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) as they holiday at a luxury resort in the fictional country of Li Tolqa. James is soon draw into a new social circle at the resort when Gabi (Mia Goth), a fan of James’ first and only novel, invites them to join her husband for dinner.
Before long they’re all venturing outside the compound to explore the countryside of Li Tolqa. Tourists are not meant to leave the resort. We soon find out why. It’s on the journey back that James accidentally runs over a man, killing him. In Li Tolqa, this is punishable by death. However, in Li Tolqa, if you’re rich enough, you can watch a clone of yourself being killed instead.
There’s a calculated, thrilling unease from the very beginning of the film. The camera twists and turns like it’s trying to escape, with a throbbing background track kicking it up another gear. Mia Goth gives the standout performance here. She plays the perfect prat, being able to switch from airs and graces to fear and loathing at will. It’s not long before you can see both were inside her all along, and witness a dark drama of wealth and power taken to its natural conclusion.
The central premise is silly but it works and it’s utilised well to both shock and get under your skin. It starts to lose itself within the dynamics of an expanding group but the performances and visual style of Cronenberg pull it through in a flurry of fury. It’s angry, searing, and sometimes gorgeous. In a crop of recent toothless ‘eat the rich’ films, Infinity Pool is refreshing.
In gore and violence, Cronenberg shows the sheer brutality of these people and others like them. When they say that they can fix something, someone somewhere else is paying the price, even if it’s their own clone they’re looking in the eye. They head back home and leave the dead and broken behind.
In cloning and killing, we’re given a great sense of alienation of the self. Power can give an air of respectability but here we see that it’s just a well rehearsed dance. Wealth and power allows them to reduce others to being barely human, and create monsters of themself. They’re not better than you, they’re likely much worse. Infinity Pool understands this and shoots it all over the screen.