Devdutt Trivedi critiques David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future (2022), exposing its reliance on symbolic structures that fall short of embodying psychological and physiological intensities in truly cinematic terms.

David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future is a provocative exploration of bodily transformation and artistic performance, yet its symbolic reliance restricts the film’s intensity and philosophical depth. By tethering its narrative to psychoanalytic motifs without fully engaging their disruptive cinematic potential, the film struggles to transcend its script and create immersive visual and auditory experiences. Devdutt Trivedi’s critical essay dissects these limitations, drawing on Antonioni, Deleuze, and Indian aesthetic theory to interrogate the inadequacies of American narrative cinema’s symbolic structures.  

Antonioni and the Autonomous Psyche

In his interview with Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni equates the psychological with the physiological, which he further connects to the plastic. This statement encapsulates the equation between the exaggerated colours in Red Desert and their non-psychological origins. Rather than commenting on the protagonist Giuliana, colour becomes a psyche in itself—free from character commentary and instead cultivating a unique attentional experience.

Mani Kaul references similar ideas in Sangeet Samay Saar, where the psychological state of mind in a raga is physiologically represented. The book’s first three chapters describe childbirth, reinforcing how the psychological is grounded in the body.

David Cronenberg’s body of work similarly attempts to reinterpret the psychological through the physiological. His use of psychoanalytic symbolism frames the body as a spatial form that should generate intensity. However, in Crimes of the Future, bodies instead become mere narrative devices, suggesting potential intensity without ever achieving it.

   

The Symbolic Trap in Crimes of the Future

This symbolic inertia causes several problems—chiefly, the script’s shallow discourse on organisms and interiority. A telling example is the line “inner beauty,” which is meant to thematize bodily transformation but lands as contrived.

The film’s opening scene, in which a mother kills her child, appears to reverse Freudian logic—potentially transforming psychoanalytic symbols into indexes (physical proof of intensity). Yet this subversion lacks narrative depth and remains an isolated act.

The fundamental issue lies in Cronenberg’s misunderstanding of cinematic language. Film inherently operates symbolically—through image, sound, and dialogue. Therefore, attempting to leap directly from symbol to index without narrative grounding is unconvincing. In this film, performance artists explore interiority by replacing internal organs, but this gesture loops back into psychoanalysis instead of breaking free of it.

Deleuzian Intensity and the Missed Opportunity

Cronenberg borrows from Deleuze and Guattari (A Thousand Plateaus) only to regress back into symbolic psychoanalysis. A more radical approach would involve restructuring cinematic language to function symptomatically. For instance, a voice-over declaring “this is a shoe” while showing a shoe disrupts symbolic representation. It positions language as an external force—an Outside—to image and sound.

As Gilles Deleuze argues, such an utterance displaces symbolic meaning, enabling an empty intensity detached from the subject. This allows spectators to engage with image and sound at a raw, affective level.

Sadly, Crimes of the Future avoids this path. Instead of using cinematic tools to de-centre meaning and challenge subjectivity, Cronenberg doubles down on narrative logic. The film reaffirms the subject’s role—linking character to audience desire—without forming the psychoanalytic void (the Lacanian lozenge) necessary to disrupt representation and create true experiential intensity. 

About David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg, the Canadian auteur renowned for pioneering the body horror genre, has crafted a diverse filmography that explores the intersections of technology, psychology, and the human body. His early works, such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981), and Videodrome (1983), introduced audiences to unsettling narratives where bodily transformations and psychological disturbances intertwine. The Fly (1986), a remake starring Jeff Goldblum, brought Cronenberg mainstream success, blending grotesque metamorphosis with tragic romance.

Transitioning into more psychological and dramatic territories, Cronenberg directed Dead Ringers (1988), featuring Jeremy Irons as twin gynaecologists descending into madness, and Naked Lunch (1991), an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel that blurs reality and hallucination. His exploration of human obsessions continued with Crash (1996), a controversial film about individuals who find sexual gratification in car accidents.  

In the 2000s, Cronenberg collaborated with actor Viggo Mortensen on several projects, including A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), and A Dangerous Method (2011), each examining themes of identity, violence, and psychoanalysis. After a brief hiatus, he returned with Crimes of the Future (2022), revisiting body horror through a futuristic lens where performance artists modify their bodies in response to a synthetic environment. Cronenberg's films consistently challenge viewers, offering a visceral experience that probes the depths of human consciousness and corporeality.