Boy, that Brandon Cronenberg’s a chip off the old block, isn’t he? After wowing us and grossing us out with the excellent Antiviral and Possessor, the Canadian director is back to really push the boundaries with his third feature, Infinity Pool. For those with the stomach for it, the film is in cinemas now.
This class-conscious horror offering is difficult to summarise, but let’s try anyway: creatively drained writer James (Alexander Skarsgård) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are vacationing in a thankfully fictional country when they accidentally run over a local after partying with fan Gabi (Mia Goth) and her husband Alban (Jalil Lespert). The penalty is death, but there’s an out: the wealthy can pay to have themselves cloned, and have that genetic duplicate executed in their stead. James naturally accepts and watches his copy be executed.
From their we descend into a weird elite subculture in which the jaded rich actually indulge this, returning every year to indulge in debauchery and violence, and witnessing their clone pay the ultimate price for their sins. To say it gets strange is a massive understatement; Infinity Pool is horrific, violent, merciless and at times arguably pornographic. If you thought Possessor was pushing buttons, Infinity Pool is mashing the keyboard.
Which sounds great to us! But maybe not for you, who’s to say? Like his illustrious father, David, who gave us the likes of Scanners, Videodrome, and Dead Ringers, Brandon Cronenberg is fascinated by the extremes of the human condition, but his agenda is to investigate rather than titillate. Nonetheless, the phrase “not everyone’s cup of tea” has rarely been more appropriate. But if you’re made of sterner-than-average stuff and are a seasoned explorer of the fringes of cinema, Infinity Pool is one destination that should be in your bucket list. Enjoy?
