Julia Holody – Staff Writer

juh644@psu.edu

[Spoliers for “Infinity Pool”]

“Infinity Pool” is the perfect blend of science fiction and horror. Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the film was released Friday, January 27. 

I will admit, writing this review was difficult because this film left me with so many thoughts and emotions that I initially could not articulate. Nonetheless, I will attempt to express my love for the gruesome, psychedelic, Freudian spiral into madness that is “Infinity Pool.”

The film takes place in Latoka, a seaside country that is home to an idyllic resort that is a far cry from the developing nation surrounding it. Writer James Foster [Alexander Skarsgård] and his wife Em [Cleopatra Coleman] are vacationing at the resort when they meet a mysterious yet alluring woman named Gabi [Mia Goth]. 

After gushing over James’ only novel, she invites the couple out to dinner with her husband Alban [Jalil Lespert]. The following day, the couples take a day trip, driving through the countryside of Lakota, cooking, sunbathing, and drinking. Night falls and drunk James opts to drive everyone back to the resort. As he is driving, he hits a local, killing him instantly. Rather than contacting the authorities, the couples drive back in a panic. The authorities arrest James the next day, who sentence him to death by the hand of the dead man’s firstborn son. However, they inform him of a unique stipulation, where he can pay to have a clone made of himself to be killed instead. James opts to be cloned.

Watching a clone of himself get brutally murdered awakens something inside James. He watched himself die before his very eyes. James continues to take advantage of his immunity from repercussions when Gabi introduces him to a group of tourists who have also been arrested, convicted of crimes, and paid to have their doubles executed in their place. After a spat with his wife Em that causes her to leave the resort, James decides to stay longer to discover an exciting life with his new “friends,” free of restraints.

In case it was not clear already, Brandon Cronenberg is the son of renowned Canadian director David Cronenberg. Known for exploring themes of sexuality and science fiction, David Cronenberg has been crowned the “king of venereal horror.” As if it were inherited, Brandon has the same knack for body horror as his father. Both men excel as directors, and it is fascinating to see Brandon carry the torch that his father lit.

Though James does not engage in much dialogue, Alexander Skarsgård does an amazing job portraying the intense character development he undergoes. The audience first sees James as a man with no direction. He has a bad case of writer’s block and depends on his wife’s inherited wealth to pay his ways. When confronted with his morality, he is granted a false sense of immortality, partially guided by his new unrestrained friends. There is a strange sense of gratification in James’ eyes for all three times he watches himself die. This can be explained by the father of psychoanalysis himself, Sigmund Freud.

Much like David Cronenberg, Freud was also a pioneer in his field (in this case, psychology) by discussing ideas on human sexuality and unconscious drives and desires. In his psychoanalytic theory, Freud explained that the mind is divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id is the unconscious part of the mind that reflects our primal instincts, urging us to act on our sexual and aggressive desires. The ego is the mediator that accepts reality and allows for the desires of the id to be expressed in socially acceptable ways. The superego is the part of the mind that strives for complete morality, emphasizing a sense of right and wrong. In James’ case, he acts solely on his id and abandons the latter two.

Mia Goth excels in every role she takes on, especially in the horror genre. Her character, Gabi, acts as a mother figure for James’ new “free” self. She does so implicitly at first, encouraging him to engage in risky behaviors like breaking into the houses of locals to kill them, behaving recklessly at the resort, and even taking drugs to engage in psychedelic orgies. James’ behaviors devolve further into depravity with Gabi’s instruction, with her finally convincing James to murder a clone of himself with his bare hands. Upon completing this transformation by symbolically killing his “old self,” James breaks down as Gabi comforts and breastfeeds him. You read that correctly.

Overall, I perceived “Infinity Pool” as a cautionary tale, with the plot demonstrating how primal and potentially dangerous our subconscious desires can be when we are given the money and free reign to act on them. Hedonism possesses James in a way that causes him to sprint from his latest adrenaline rush to his next dopamine hit. On a surface level, the film also had some amazing gore and violence that I could not help but gloat over.