Infinity Pool is a 2022 Canada/Hungary/France Sci-Fi horror by Brandon Cronenberg
Starring Mia Goth, Alexander Skarsgård and Amanda Brugel
The movie was originally MPA NC-17 rated, but the producers decided
to appeal for an R rating. However the appeal was unsuccessful and the producers decided to cut the movie for an MPA R rating. Worldwide theatrical releases are set to be the R Rated Version but there is also a Canadian theatrical re-release featuring
the uncut version. The first US home video release is the cut MPA R rated version but there are unconfirmed plans for the Unrated Version to be released on home video.
Infinity Pool originally contained sexually explicit imagery
during an early scene between stars Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth, plus several later flashes of violence. Those elements initially caused British Columbia and Alberta's film classification offices to award Infinity Pool an R rating, the Canadian
equivalent of a BBFC 18 rating.
As is the case with the equivalent MPA NC-17 rating in the US, this rating is box office poison as cinemas prefer not to screen such films. In Canada, any theatre playing an R film must have an usher stationed
inside each auditorium 20 minutes before and 20 minutes into each screening to check ticket-buyers' ID. In other words, any such release on either side of the border is a non-starter for all but the smallest of art-house productions.
Grudgingly,
Cronenberg and his producers resubmitted a slightly sanitized Infinity Pool to the Canadian review boards, earning the more palatable 18A rating which allows moviegoers under the age of 18 admission if they are accompanied by an adult. However in late
February 2023 Elevation Pictures released Infinity Pool Uncut in select Canadian theatres, despite the complications thrown its way by this country's complex patchwork of provincial ratings boards.
In the autumn of 2019, Ontario Premier Doug Ford
shut down the Ontario Film Authority, which was in charge of classifying films for the province. Since then, Ontario ratings have been provided by Consumer Protection BC, which also handles ratings for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. When the board was
shuttered in 2019, film exhibitors and distributors hoped that such deregulation would lead to the adoption of a national content advisory system. And as of February 2023 this hasn't yet materialized.
Across the rest of the country, Alberta has
its own Film Classification Office (which also provides ratings to the Northwest Territories and Nunavut); the Nova Scotia Film Classification Board is responsible for the Maritimes; and Quebec has its Ministry of Culture and Communications.
Different boards made different decisions about the original uncut submission of Infinity Pool.
Quebec's Ministry of Culture and Communications opted for a 16+ rating, whilst the Consumer Protection BC and the Alberta Film Classification Office opted for their most restrictive ratings of R.
Ultimately, the uncut version of Infinity
Pool that is now screening at Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox and Carlton cinemas, Ottawa's Mayfair Theatre and Calgary's Canyon Meadows Cinemas. Director Cronenberg commented:
It's not a completely different film, but
there is a version of the film that I intended for people see,. I'm glad people saw the other version last month, but I'm also glad Canadians are finally getting the full film, too -- and in theatres where it's meant to be seen.
