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“Infinity Pool” takes place on the fictional island of Li Tolqa, an attractive destination for wealthy tourists and seemingly a crime-infested nightmare for anyone actually living there. Tourists are welcome at vacation resorts on the island but prohibited from leaving the resort grounds. The film’s protagonist, James Foster (Alexander Skarsgård), wrote an unsuccessful novel six years ago, hasn’t had been able to write since, and is on vacation with his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) in hopes of getting inspiration.
Another couple at the resort, Alban (Jalil Lespert) and Gabi (Mia Goth), tempt the Fosters into an elicit getaway. James is especially taken with Gabby, who obsesses over both his book and his body (one scene shown at the Sundance premiere is so graphic it’s been edited down for wide release to just barely avoid an NC-17). Things go from questionable to disastrous when James hits and kills a local while driving — a crime for which he shall face the death penalty. However, there is an unusual workaround for this punishment: For reasons that go unexplained, Li Tolqa is the only nation in the world to have perfected human cloning, so criminals can have exact doppelgängers of themselves made for the purposes of execution.
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Witnessing the clone’s execution leaves Em horrified and ready to go home pretty early on, but James is disturbingly not too disturbed, and being unable to find his passport gives him an excuse to stick around on Li Tolqa. What follows is essentially a parade of non-stop depravity, where James goes along with Gabi, Alban, and other amoral tourists doing whatever it is a complete psychopath could do if they could get away with anything.
The easy comparison narratively is “The White Lotus” meets “The Purge” with a bit of “Rick and Morty” sci-fi nihilism thrown in. Weirdly, though, the experience of watching it ended up reminding me most of Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.” Both “Infinity Pool” and “Spring Breakers” are alienating, often tiring films carried primarily by exceptional cinematography and energetic editing. Both give lip service to issues of privilege and appropriation without actually having that much to say about them. And both films share the serious weakness of giving almost no reason for viewers to care about their loathsome characters — though one performance in “Infinity Pool” rises above the rest and heightens the entertainment value significantly.
