I was in shock after this ended. All I could do was sit there and watch the credits roll. When I finally walked out, the usher said "Wow, you survived," because multiple people walked out early. "Survived" is a very appropriate word for this, it's not something you watch, but endure. I get the strong sensation that Cronenberg is disillusioned with modern film and wanted to make his own attempt at progressing the art medium forward. With all of the discussion of corpses, body parts, and conflating art with mutilation, the message comes across clearly. The "Crimes of the Future" the title refers to are embracing the evolution of art and mutating human anatomy.
In Cronenberg's dark and muddy dystopian future, police, bureaucrats, and conservatives are the enemy here, they prevent change at all costs because of fear. Whereas the ones willing to test the limits of art, their audience, and the human body are the trailblazers. The brooding lead, Saul, and his surgeon partner Caprice approach performance art in a way that illustrates this fear of evolution dichotomy; Saul rejects evolution out of disgust, but Caprice rejects the change out of fear. While their art is avant-garde, it does not push progressive boundaries the conservative bureaucracy believes. The process of embracing evolution occurs slowly over the course of Saul and Caprice's experiences in the grimy underworld of Cronenberg's complex dystopian future. There is no clear good or evil, only a hopeful destination that lies ahead, as the ending suggests.
In Cronenberg's dark and muddy dystopian future, police, bureaucrats, and conservatives are the enemy here, they prevent change at all costs because of fear. Whereas the ones willing to test the limits of art, their audience, and the human body are the trailblazers. The brooding lead, Saul, and his surgeon partner Caprice approach performance art in a way that illustrates this fear of evolution dichotomy; Saul rejects evolution out of disgust, but Caprice rejects the change out of fear. While their art is avant-garde, it does not push progressive boundaries the conservative bureaucracy believes. The process of embracing evolution occurs slowly over the course of Saul and Caprice's experiences in the grimy underworld of Cronenberg's complex dystopian future. There is no clear good or evil, only a hopeful destination that lies ahead, as the ending suggests.