Thoughts on Infinity Pool
Written and directed by Brendan Cronenberg, Infinity Pool’s strength comes from its unbelievably unsettling atmosphere. Juxtaposed neon and dully beige lighting, bouts of editing genius (especially in the hallucinogenic sequences), and cinematography that creeps under your skin all combine to form the distinctly unnerving aura that the film inhabits. These assets, and the atmosphere that they create, are the primary source of terror in the film. While certainly still interested in asking many thematic questions, Infinity Pool is the definition of style over substance, with plot, themes, and script taking a backseat to the technical masterwork of the film.
The way the camera tends to drift around the events of the film, often pushing towards or away from the subject of the frame, emulates a slow sinking into the one-of-a-kind visual hell that Cronenberg has created. The cinematography is also ripe with Dutch tilts and extreme close-ups. The Dutch tilts are heavily concentrated in the opening montage sequence of the film, which introduces the viewer to the luxury resort setting through swooping drone shots of the grounds that slowly tilt, never allowing the location the comforting feeling of being grounded. The extreme close-ups, on the other hand, are more dispersed throughout Infinity Pool, but become more frequent as James slowly loses his grip on his identity. As these close-ups become more prevalent, they also become more shaky and out of focus, underscoring their thematic importance. All in all, the cinematography in Infinity Pool is incredible, perfectly placing the viewer in the world of the film.
I was similarly stunned by the editing in Infinity Pool. While the less flashy transitions between scenes and individual shots are done with the utmost care, it is the haphazard, disorienting, hallucinogen-fuelled sequences that truly blew me away. Combining psychedelic, almost ethereal, imagery through the use of single-color layering, a technique that pairs wonderfully with the neon lighting of many other scenes in the film, with gross violations of the human body, these moments in the film are without a doubt the most enthralling.
I was, unfortunately, less enamored with the score, which I was looking forward to as it was composed by the unparalleled ambient musician Tim Hecker. The score is largely percussive, centered around pulsating rhythms. This beat-driven style only partially works as an attempt to mirror the inescapability of toxic masculinity and the corruption of wealth, but I found the moments in the score when the percussion gave away to sprawling, shimmering, and slightly atonal, synths to be much more compelling and fitting for the atmosphere of the film.
Although the script is relatively weak, something that can be overlooked as it truly is secondary to the visual and technical achievements of the film, the only component of Infinity Pool that completely falls flat are the scenes that depict the “multi-cultural” offerings of the resort. Surely a form of commentary on the predatory tourism industry as well as the exploitation of the lower-class by the ultra-wealthy, these images (a Chinese restaurant, a Bollywood dance, etc.) do not fit in with the rest of the production design at all and often took me out of the world of the film.
The many aforementioned themes of the movie, too, are a bit muddled. Most likely a problem with overreaching, it is hard to find a singular, most important, message that Infinity Pool is trying to convey. In a film landscape where “rich people are bad” movies seem to be becoming consistently more prevalent, Infinity Pool appears to also have more to say about toxic cultures of masculinity and ego, yet it does not find the perfect balance between them. The way the film blends all of its themes together makes it a bit hard to delve into them beyond their face value.
Alexander Skarsgård is great but, as always, Mia Goth is truly the star of the show. In a recent interview with Zack Sharf for Variety, Mia Goth voiced frustration about the way horror is treated by award-voting movie elites, saying: “I think that it’s very political… A shift should take place if they wanted to engage with the wider public. I think it would be of benefit really [to nominate horror movies].” And she is right! Her acting performances in Pearl and Infinity Pool are Oscar-worthy in my eyes. The way she subtly toes the line between sanity and insanity in her performances is truly something to behold, and it is no less compelling in Infinity Pool.
Over the last two days, I have seen Infinity Pool twice, and both times I was equally captivated and disgusted. Infinity Pool is the first great, year-end top ten contending film of the year.