Brandon Cronenberg’s two previous movies also shared a fascination with the rarified world of the rich and powerful, and Infinity Pool makes this as clear as it’s ever been. Money allows for the transcending of law and order in Li Tolqa, much as it does in the real world, but all the middle men have been removed from the equation. Part of the deal is that the condemned have to watch their clones be executed, and the executioner is always a relative of the aggrieved. Everyone in the chain of transgression knows exactly what’s happening. The executioners kill the person who looks exactly like the person who wronged their family, and look down the dark hall to see them watching, sometimes cheering like they’re at a sporting event. Justice is reduced to appearances only, leaving the perpetrators free to transgress again, and once James is inducted into Gabi’s group of regular visitors, transgress they do. Infinity Pool takes the perspective of the kinds of villains in horror movies who kill because they can, totally oblivious to any kind of morality or conscience that would stay their hand. If that sounds intolerable, Cronenberg makes it less so by turning the group on similarly privileged tourists and then ultimately on themselves, while also finding the sick humor in their nonchalance.
Infinity Pool is the most straightforwardly entertaining of Cronenberg’s three films thanks to Skarsgard and Goth. Alexander Skarsgard is one of the most beautiful men currently walking the planet, and the Swedish actor undoubtedly has some sense of this. Therefore, the best roles for someone who looks like him are those that undercut his appearance. Can this chiseled Norse god convincingly play a mediocre schlub? That’s the test he gives himself in Infinity Pool, and he is dedicated to constantly humiliating his character. The cloning process is dehumanizing and alienating, and James is the only character the viewer sees go through it, all the better to showcase Skarsgard’s masochistic commitment to the role. Accentuating his flimsy self-confidence and generally outmatched nature is the supreme dominance embodied by Goth, quickly becoming the ur-scream queen of her generation. Goth gave one of the previous year’s best performances in Pearl, and there’s no one better for deranged lunacy. It is never apparent what her character is going to do in any interaction, and a late transformation to normalcy after watching her revel in boundless hedonism is the most chilling thing in the film. She and Skarsgard make for a compelling cat-and-mouse couple, except the better metaphor is T. Rex and gecko. Goth plays it so big and Skarsgard is so pathetic that the latter never has a chance.
Where Infinity Pool falls back is in the distance between its visceral pleasures and its intellectual ambitions. The metaphor is on the surface here, to the point where alternative readings become impossible. Possessor had a similar theme, but had so much more on its mind. Here, it’s a sci-fi premise alongside some stock male inferiority complex. The film is shot through with Cronenberg’s particular visual flair, embodied by local masks that are tailor-made for nightmare fuel and an industrial score that turns establishing shots of regular buildings into dread-inducing footage. However, the director is making a reputation for himself that demands a higher standard. He must keep working with Skarsgard and Goth, just with a headier script the next time. B+