Two revelers in Infinity Pool (Sundance Institute)

Brandon Cronenberg’s third feature, Infinity Pool, offers a prime example of an actor who, upon first appearing on screen, changes the room temperature considerably, recharges the narrative, and practically takes over the movie. Mia Goth makes an unabashed star turn as Gabby, the honey blonde who presides as the hostess with the mostess, the one who knows where to get the best drugs and commit mayhem and get away with it.  

With her posh English accent and know-it-all attitude, she flatters the ego of author James (Alexander Skarsgård) by giddily gushing about his first, and so far, only novel that he wrote six years ago. He’s gobsmacked. Someone has read his book! Gabby seduces the audience too. Perhaps because her eyebrows are bleached, one can help but to stare into her eyes. We want to go where she’s heading and are relieved when James accepts her invitation to join her and her husband, Alban (Jalil Lespert), on an afternoon outing by the sea.  

Until Gabby’s entrance, the film plays out in White Lotus–land as James and his wife Emma (Cleopatra Coleman) have breakfast on the terrace of an all-inclusive luxury hotel tucked away in the vaguely Eastern European country of Li Tolqa. (The movie was filmed in Croatia.) He has come to the resort for inspiration for his next book—Emma is the daughter of James’s mega-rich publisher. 

Having summered in the country several times, Gabby and Alban lead the two innocents, James and Emma, out of the hotel compound, which is surrounded by a barbed wire fence, to borrow an aging convertible from a local and drive down the coast to a secluded spot for a lazy afternoon of beach and booze. (According to Gabby, acting as the tour guide on the ways of the Li Tolqans, the country is a hotbed of crime.) 

It should be noted that the version screened at Sundance is different than what has been released in the United States. It included a sequence in which Gabby approaches James from behind as he’s relieving himself and begins to masturbate the startled but aroused author. (Yes, there were body doubles.) The brief scene, cut so the movie could achieve an R rating, as opposed to NC-17, is not necessary for what unfolds, yet it more clearly explains why puppy dog James follows Gabby’s every whim.  

On the drive back to the hotel, James is at the wheel—Alban is too drunk to drive, and the women nap in the backseat. The sun has gone down, but the headlights start to flicker, obscuring what lies ahead, as a man crosses the road at an inauspicious moment. James obeys Gabby’s orders to speed off and not report the incident to the police, not unless they all want to be jailed for life or worse. Perhaps it’s because of her confidence and that upper-class accent, but any common sense James has goes by the wayside. 

This sets up one of the strangest vacation-in-hell movies in a while. (James’s losing his passport is the least of his worries.) It also—coincidentally?—shares a Frankenstein–ish touch with Crimes of the Future by the director’s father, David Cronenberg. That also featured the experimentation/modification of the human body for one’s own self-involved gratification. This sci-fi comparison aside, the wild and unruly Infinity Pool has a mind-altering vibe, after Gabby offers James an aphrodisiac and hallucinogenic drug. His fuzzy, psychedelic trip plays out like a sped-up variation of Gaspar Noe’s druggy Enter the Void. 

The high point of Goth’s performance is a venom-spewing monologue mocking James’s intellectual and social prowess. You could describe Gabby here as unhinged and blithely amoral. With her laughing, sing-song voice, she addresses James as if she’s talking to a toddler, completely undermining his masculinity while reveling in her power—they who hold all the cards can have the last laugh. Although I’ve seen Goth in many films (High Life), I now know what the fuss was about when she starred in Pearl last year. 

Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor in Fair Play (Sundance Institute)

Fair Play 

Hold the presses! A film star is born and another reinvented in debut director Chloe Domont’s sleek drama of a glamorous couple succumbing to backstabbing and brutal belittling.  

In the 2022 season of the podcast You Must Remember This, producer and host Karina Longworth pointed out how sexuality has practically disappeared in American movies after their more explicit heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Well, based on what I’ve seen at Sundance this year, sex has roared back. This high-stakes drama begins on a playful and sexual note, which leads to a bizarre marriage proposal. (Longworth’s husband, Rian Johnson, is one of the movie’s executive producers.) 

Eroticism is interwoven throughout the story, although it is mainly set in the high-pressure world of a Manhattan hedge fund. Luckily, no jargon lessons are necessary. The suited executives’ boldly aggressive behavior plays out in the open and needs no translation, with the exception of Emily (Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor) whose remarkably delineated performance grounds the film, giving it the credibility it needs.

Emily is much more circumspect than her male colleagues. She’s a people pleaser, accommodating in her negotiating style or politely counteroffering, and far from the loudest voice in the room. Her fiancé, Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), is the presumptive alpha male go-getter and born leader. The director uses sexuality as a temperature gauge of their relationship. Initially, they are both generous and giving, as though it is in the bedroom where they are equals, at least when the movie begins.  

One source of tension is Emily’s increasing anger at Luke’s change of behavior once she is promoted from analysis to production manager, a position to which he felt entitled. (The drumbeat score helps too in building the suspense.) In contrast to Emily’s rising stock in the glass-walled offices, Luke’s story line resembles Norman Maine’s in A Star is Born, a former hot shot destroyed by self-sabotage.

Don’t be fooled by her buttoned-up appearance, Emily fights for what she wants, whether in the boardroom or in the bedroom. She knows how to read a room. From the get-go, she and Luke have larger ambitions, which is one reason why they have kept their relationship secret from HR—they take separate routes to work from the apartment they share—and one imagines they must have at least shared some office insights to gain a competitive edge on their colleagues. Not that their work environment is an even playing field. Appearances count, and while Emily may be soft spoken and not as intimidating as her swaggering coworkers, she’s the class valedictorian: She does her homework and then some. 

In Bridgerton, Dynevor’s genteel demeanor often faded into the opulent costume drama’s wallpaper. Here she’s an amalgam of demureness and determination. Ehrenreich’s previous roles in Solo: A Star Wars Story or Hail, Caesar! offered viewers no clue that dramatic fireworks were stored in his wheelhouse. Luke’s breakdown ranks among some of the onscreen bests. Lesson relearned: Never underestimate an actor.

Infinity Pool is currently playing in theaters. Fair Play was acquired by Netflix during the festival.