I was initially hesitant to see this film as the trailer made it out to look suspiciously like a rehash of Riley Stearn's sublime 2022 effort Dual. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Sadly, Infinity Pool isn't nearly as clever or perverse as that film. Nor is it even in the same league as writer/director Brandon Cronenberg's previous release, Possessor.
On the surface, young Cronenberg's third film suffers from arriving at the tail end of the glut of films that have skewered the entitled rich set over the past year--Bodies Bodies Bodies, The Forgotten, The Menus, Glass Onion, Triangle of Sadness, amongst others. But it also gets ire down in some all-too-famliar tropes without even really trying to tweak them enough to make them feel fresh.
Without giving too much away, the film follows a sad sack hack writer on vacation with his sugar mamma wife. Desperately seeking recognition and approval, he falls in with the wrong crowd and his mundane holiday soon turns into a strangely dystopic nightmare filled with hazing and humiliation. It plays on the foreigner in a foreign land trope, the outsider longing to belong to the cool clique trope, as well as the whole entitled douchebags getting away with murder because they have endless $$$$. All of these themes we have seen in other films, where they were handled with more aplomb.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the film is that it look great--the cinematography and production design are stellar--and the cast is terrific. Mia Goth rules the film with a deceptively devilish performance that starts out quiet and unassuming then builds into a smoldering malevolence that is unnerving and uncanny. The supporting cast lend additional rich textures to the proceedings. Yet none of the cool visual elements or strong thespian turns can make up for the half-baked (or perhaps over-baked?) story.
