Infinity Pool (2023)
Directed by Brandon Cronenberg
No — Infinity Pool is not especially woke, scoring 26 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool arrives with the cold, clinical assurance of a director who inherited his father's obsessions and none of his patience.
Consciousness Markers
The entire premise is a literalization of 'eat the rich': wealthy foreigners buy their way out of capital punishment by having clones executed in their place, then return annually to commit crimes for sport. The film is a sustained, venomous satire of elite impunity and the commodification of justice.
The cast features an interracial marriage (Skarsgård and Coleman) and a diverse international ensemble, but the film never frames this as a statement; the characters exist as characters, not as representation milestones.
The fictional Li Tolqa and its exploited locals gesture at Western-tourist-versus-native dynamics, but the film's real target is class and wealth, not race; the local culture is exoticized as a horror backdrop rather than examined with racial consciousness.
Cronenberg's satire is visceral and ambiguous rather than preachy; critics noted the cultural commentary is deliberately shallow and the film refuses to spell out a moral, preferring provocation to sermon.
Mia Goth's Gabi is a magnetic, predatory antagonist and Em (Coleman) ultimately walks away in disgust, but the film offers no feminist thesis; its women are instruments of the protagonist's degradation rather than vehicles for a gender agenda.
There is a drug-fueled orgy and various transgressive sexual scenarios, but none are framed through an LGBTQ+ lens or identity politics. The eroticism is deployed for shock and hedonism, not queer representation.
No environmental or climate themes appear anywhere in the film.
The film revels in body horror and grotesque physicality; there is no body-positivity messaging whatsoever.
No neurodivergent characters or themes are present.
The film is set in a wholly fictional country and makes no claims about real historical events.
Why it received this score
Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool arrives with the cold, clinical assurance of a director who inherited his father's obsessions and none of his patience. A struggling novelist and his wife vacation in the fictional Li Tolqa, where a fatal accident reveals a justice system that lets wealthy foreigners purchase a duplicate of themselves and watch the duplicate executed. The satire is not subtle, and it is not meant to be. The rich commit crimes for sport, then return annually to do it again. The film's contempt for elite impunity is the engine driving everything, and it runs hot from the first reel to the last.
Elsewhere the ledger is thinner. The cast includes an interracial marriage and a polyglot ensemble, though nobody pauses to make a point of it. Li Tolqa's exploited locals gesture toward tourist-versus-native friction, but the target is money, not race, and the local culture serves mostly as an exotic backdrop for horror. Mia Goth's Gabi is a magnetic predator, and Cleopatra Coleman's Em exits in disgust, which is as close as the film comes to a gender argument. It offers no thesis. The eroticism, the orgies, the hallucinogens, are deployed for shock and hedonism, with no identity politics attached.
What remains is a film that prefers provocation to preaching. It refuses to spell out a moral, which is its saving grace and its limitation. The body horror is grotesque, the characters are loathsome, and the audience is left to sit with the discomfort. Cronenberg has made a venomous little picture about the commodification of justice, and he has made it without a single lecture. That restraint deserves acknowledgment, even if the monsoon-soaked final image suggests he is not finished being angry about any of it.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror. A tragic accident leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you'll be executed, or, if you’re rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.
Questions about Infinity Pool
Is Infinity Pool woke?
No — Infinity Pool is not especially woke, scoring 26 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Based.
Does Infinity Pool have any woke elements?
1 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Eat the Rich (72). On Eat the Rich: The entire premise is a literalization of 'eat the rich': wealthy foreigners buy their way out of capital punishment by having clones executed in their place, then return annually to commit crimes for sport.
How does Infinity Pool compare to other 2023 movies?
It ranks #66 of the 200 films from 2023 we've scored; their average is 24. The wokest is Origin (84).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.