INFINITY POOL: A Shocking Treatise on a World Without Rules

Infinity Pool by Brandon Cronenberg was one of the loudest and most widely discussed premieres of 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The film starring Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård provoked vivid and turbulent reactions, surprising audiences with its form and rather nihilistic content. How does the new film by the creator of the success Possessor fare?

The foreign press has dubbed Infinity Pool The White Lotus for degenerates. There is something to it – both stories are set in exclusive hotels, and the axis of the plot consists of various transgressions and crossings of boundaries and norms. However, compared to the madness and unrestrained bravado of Cronenberg’s characters, what happened in The White Lotus looks like a kindergarten performance. Suffice it to say that in one of the first scenes of Infinity Pool we watch Gabi – Mia Goth’s character – approach Alexander Skarsgård’s James as he is urinating under a bush and… start masturbating him.

We see it in a tight close-up and without euphemisms, all the way to an explicit money shot, shown in full. The unusual pickup by the star of Nymphomaniac definitely crosses boundaries, but at the same time greatly appeals to and intrigues the protagonist. The fact that the man does not react negatively to the incident – what is more – derives satisfaction from it, will have enormous significance for the plot. The situation becomes a precedent that opens the way to further transgressions. Silent consent leads toward subsequent boundary crossings.

Infinity Pool: wild desires unleashed

At the film’s premiere in Park City, Alexander Skarsgård and cinematographer Karim Hussein appeared wearing collars around their necks, with leashes attached. This outfit not only directly references one of the film’s sequences, but also in a simple way alludes to the main motif explored in it. We are talking about unleashing one’s own unrestrained, wild, and mad desires. Brandon Cronenberg, as both screenwriter and director of the film, openly considers what happens to a person who never lets up and never allows their dark side to speak. At the same time, he conducts this reflection in the opposite direction.

He asks what happens to an individual when they begin to surrender too strongly to the impulses of the id and are guided solely by pure drives. Another layer is added to these reflections – by setting the action in an imaginary country with an unusual set of rules, Cronenberg conducts a treatise on a world without principles. It seems that one of the elements that restrains a healthy person from doing certain things is fear of punishment and fear of death.

So how would people behave if both of these elements ceased to be a problem? This is, incidentally, where the most interesting element of Cronenberg’s film develops. Going into more detail would be a kind of spoiler, so for now I will put three dots here.

Infinity Pool: an assault on the senses that is hard to look away from

Brandon Cronenberg’s new film is a work that attacks the viewer’s senses from every side. The director uses unusual camera techniques. Already from the opening sequence the viewer’s head can start spinning properly, and then the filmmaker uses stroboscopic lights so often to illuminate dynamic fragments of dream sequences that it feels as if he were deliberately trying to induce an epileptic seizure in the audience. The sound design accompanies this, repeatedly assaulting the ears with short, loud noises. All of this affects how the viewer experiences the work.

It provokes uncomfortable, under-the-skin emotions. This device, however, is devilishly well thought out and closely connected to the very subject matter of the film. Brandon Cronenberg, telling a story about a protagonist whose boundaries are being crossed, deliberately crosses the viewer’s comfort boundaries himself, testing their endurance to various stimuli. This is a brilliant directorial concept that in a way places us in the situation of the protagonist himself.

We, like him, consent to what is happening around us. And instead of turning off the film or cutting ourselves off from a bad situation, we allow ourselves to be drawn into the vortex of further events. Many scenes are designed to shock and stir emotions. For this reason, blood and bodily fluids appear frequently and in abundance, and the overall gloomy atmosphere grows increasingly dark.

What is characteristic, however, is that many sequences are at the same time extremely funny. The director deliberately plays with the formula of deadpan or contrast to show the characters’ approach to what surrounds them. Infinity Pool is not only a treatise on a world without rules, but also another recent blade of criticism aimed at snobbery and the disregard for rules by the privileged classes.

A showcase of first-class acting

Infinity Pool is a film of two actors. Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård play fully fleshed-out and contradictory characters whose behavior is so surprising that it compels one to look into their psyche and consider where it comes from. Goth clearly leads here; once again – after her bravura, award-worthy performance as Pearl in Ti West’s X prequel – she delivers a display of beautiful madness that governs her every movement and gesture. The actress once again has the chance to shine in full brilliance.

As in Pearl, she also gets a scene here in which she can scream gutturally, doing so with extraordinary grace, poise, and a full range of extreme emotions. The screaming scene in front of the bus and the sequence that follows on the hood of the car show that Mia Goth is an acting animal that feels best when her character can fully surrender to madness and allow herself to be guided by unrestrained id.

Alexander Skarsgård, who partners her, is also excellent, though he uses slightly different means of expression. It is worth noting, however, that the Swedish actor intelligently breaks with his previous screen persona already in the first sequences, showing a new, unfamiliar, and more withdrawn face. Additionally – in the aforementioned collar scene – he has the opportunity to use skills he learned for the role of the vampire Eric Northman in six seasons of the HBO hit True Blood.

Infinity Pool is a f**ked-up, shocking film that assaults the senses – with movement, sound, and stroboscopic lights. This is not an ordinary production, but rather a singular experience. Brandon Cronenberg’s new film simultaneously puts us to the test while at the same time not allowing us to take our eyes off the screen. The director lets the viewer embark on a journey into the abyss of madness and look into a place from which there is no escape.

The result is demanding and difficult cinema, but at the same time very satisfying, because it allows one to experience nearly boundary-pushing sensations. Infinity Pool has all the makings of becoming a cult film. Even if, in my assessment, Possessor is still better and more fully thought out structurally, thematically, and formally. The latest film by David Cronenberg’s son is nevertheless felt with one’s entire being, and it is impossible to remain indifferent to what we are watching. In all its excess and striving for exaggeration, Infinity Pool left me, however, with a slight sense of insufficiency.

If, however, one takes into account that insufficiency in cinema is much better than oversaturation, I can confidently say that I recommend Infinity Pool. There is a chance that you have not seen a film this deranged and at the same time this intelligent in a long while. (Well, at least not since Titane by Julia Ducournau).