Brandon Cronenberg’s latest film has developed a reputation as his most twisted to date.
When Brandon Cronenberg’s new film Infinity Pool premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January, it quickly developed a reputation as the director’s most twisted to date, complete with visceral bursts of violence and the sort of body horror frequently favoured by his famous father David.
The film follows events at a luxury resort in the fictional nation of Li Tolqa, where struggling writer James (Alexander Skarsgard) is led down a path of hedonism by the mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth) after they fall afoul of the country’s laws.
While the reviews have mostly been very positive, there are some who have objected to the more disturbing elements of the film – and ahead of its UK release, Cronenberg spoke exclusively to RadioTimes.com about how he didn’t intentionally set out to shock audiences.
“To be honest, it’s not something I’m seeking out,” he said. “I know people who don’t like the film sometimes bash it for trying to be shocking. I’m not actually trying to be shocking though – it’s not shock for shock’s sake. There is obviously a great tradition of shock cinema, and that’s fine, I enjoy those films.
“But I also think just seeking out shocks is kind of limited from my perspective,” he added. “And as a goal, to me the violence is generally quite narrative – in this case, the plot of the film isn’t a conventional plot, so much of it is being driven by the character psychology. And so it’s not a very story-driven film, it’s a psyche-driven film.”
According to the director, audiences need to “feel in a visceral way” what his characters are going through.
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“And not just know on paper that they’re committing acts of violence and having an orgy, but to actually have this kind of visceral response. Because that then calibrates the audience so that the next section of the film will be felt in a certain way, and they’ll understand the character’s experiences from the inside.”
Cronenberg continued: “So similarly with [my previous film] Possessor, the main character’s psychology is totally warped and shaped by these violent experiences. And to me, that’s really the goal rather than to shock people.”
Of course, Cronenberg’s father is no stranger to strong reactions to his films – his 1996 JG Ballard adaptation Crash famously led some newspapers to campaign for a ban on its release – so you might wonder if Brandon had spoken with his dad about some of the more extreme responses. But he explained that the pair have only ever discussed this briefly.
“It’s not that we never talked about it, but it’s also just in that kind of passing way that families talk about what they’re doing,” he said. “I mean, obviously I grew up seeing those kinds of reactions to his films., but also that’s a very common reaction to horror.
“I think that it’s just one of those genres, not everybody’s going to be on board with everything you’re doing,” he continued. “Even with mainstream horror, there are people who are repulsed.
“Because although I feel exploring those aspects of human thought and emotion and those experiences is very healthy, a lot of people don’t see it that way or refuse to engage on principle and so you’re always going to be in some way divisive.”
Infinity Pool is released in UK cinemas on Friday 24th March. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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