Written by Jeff Sparks
Through each year that she has worked, if her performance isn’t one of the best it’s been at the very least memorable. Since her stunning feature film performing debut in “Nymphomaniac: Volume Two” Mia Goth has proven to be one of the most elite actors working today. Out of all the wonderful performances from 2023 it was Goth’s seductive and maniacal turn as Gabi Bauer in Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool” that impressed me the most. Mia introduces Gabi to us as merely a rich girl with a wild side, building her character’s sociopathic tendencies as the film progresses. Early on Gabi meets Alexander Skarsgård’s leading man James Foster who soon finds out Gabi is the leader of a posse of wealthy vacationers who engage in criminal behavior and debauchery for fun. Fortunately for them, the police offer to make duplicates of them that suffer violent executions in their place for a hefty price whenever they are caught committing any crimes. James is simply a bored writer and we find him in the opening scene before Gabi leads him down a dark path of excess and moral decay. In just about every shot, Goth’s beady eyes are constantly locked on who or what she’s focused on, never seeming to look away. For the first half of the film she plays her character as intelligent, always knowing what to say and how to say it to manipulate those around her. Once she feels she has James pulled into her web, she reveals herself to be a modern-day savage whose life revolves around power dynamics, brutality, and perversion with each of her actions more twisted than the last. Goth uses her character’s primitive outlook on the world to fuel her menacing turn in the final act that sees her elevate her psychotic behavior to eleven. In a year full of interesting characters, a mix of Goth’s sheer talent and Cronenberg’s script make Gabi a memorable one that has stuck with me since the film’s release back in January. In a bold and captivating role, Mia Goth’s deranged and depraved performance in “Infinity Pool” is my favorite of 2023.
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