After his horror movies Antiviral and Possessor were released in 2012 and 2020, Brandon Cronenberg wrote and directed Infinity Pool, which came out in January 2023. Like his famous and celebrated father David Cronenberg, he makes films that fit into the body horror subgenre and pulls no punches when it comes to violence, gore, and strong themes.
There's no doubt that Infinity Pool is a polarizing movie as some parts are disturbing and bleak. While it has an 87% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer based on 210 reviews, it has a much lower Audience Score of 52%. The Infinity Pool ending is as meaningful as it is upsetting, and it's tough to forget about.
What Is Infinity Pool About?
Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool is about a married couple named James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em Foster (Cleopatra Coleman) who travel to a resort in Li Tolqa. After meeting Gabi Bauer (Mia Goth) and realizing that something seems strange here, they learn that this is no ordinary resort.
Infinity Pool reveals its horror movie plot twist as the couple gets to know Gabi: rich people come to this resort so they can commit crimes and get away with them. James accidentally kills someone by running them over with his car. He is told that in order to make things right in the universe, the firstborn son of the dead man has to murder him. But instead, if he pays a ton of money, they can make a clone of James and kill him instead.
The body horror genre has key elements, and Infinity Pool doesn't shy away from showing lots of gore. It still focuses on the characters, though, and James's moral dilemma is front and center. When James wants his wife Em to go back to the United States, it's clear that he is trying to do the right thing and protect her.
However, if James really wanted to do the right thing, why doesn't he go home as well? It's a question that audiences might not be able to stop themselves from asking while watching the movie. Despite this, Infinity Pool is as visually arresting as Cronenberg's Antiviral movie. Of course, if James went home, then the movie's central question about what people are really capable of wouldn't be possible.
How Does Infinity Pool End?
The ending of Infinity Pool is as dark as the rest of the movie. A family who has a farm takes care of James, but because he has been drugged, he has no idea what is real and what is fake. The people who Gabi hangs out with want James to kill another one of his clones, and when he says no, James kills the clone. There are some truly gross body horror movie scenes and there are countless moments like this in Infinity Pool.
Rather than go back home, James leaves the airport and returns to the resort. He sits outside as a monsoon begins and seems to be thinking about the horrors that he has experienced. It's a sad, somewhat beautiful scene, and one that is packed with emotion.
What Does The End Of Infinity Pool Mean?
The Infinity Pool ending suggests that James can't move past what has happened at the resort and that he is going to stay there forever. It's possible that this experience has been so traumatic that he can't imagine going back home and living a regular life with his wife Em again.
The ending of Infinity Pool could also mean that James actually liked the criminal that he turned into while on this strange and dark vacation. And it's possible that he wants to stay because he has bought into the idea that he deserves a place where he can behave however he wants and there are supposedly no consequences.
While Infinity Pool isn't for everyone, the movie does have a great cast. Mia Goth gave one of the best 2022 horror performances in the X sequel Pearl, and she is incredible in Infinity Pool as a seductive character who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It's tough to imagine another actor in this role as Goth has made a career out of tough, passionate characters who don't suffer fools and who are terrifying to be alone with. She's just as captivating in this role as she is as the serial killer Pearl.
The Infinity Pool ending might not be a truly satisfying horror movie ending since it could be interpreted two different ways. It still works, though, because anything else would feel fake. If James really did go back home, then the dark, deep themes of the story would fall flat. James has been altered by what he has seen and done and there is no going back now.