Crimes of the Future

Crimes of the Future explores a world of genetic mutations, in which all adult women have died from the use of cosmetics and the surviving men keep finding themselves reverting to more primitive forms. The mainspring of Cronenberg's humour is the discrepancy between theory and actual experience; as with the earlier Stereo, the movie is dominated by an 'absent' theorist (in this case the mad dermatologist Antoine Rouge), whose hapless disciple struggles to uphold his master's teachings in situations of escalating absurdity and anarchy. The humour couldn't be blacker, and the quality of invention is outrageously high.