Crimes of the Future

Adrian Tripod searches for his mentor Antoine Rouge because Rouge was a controversial dermatologist who disappeared after the devastating plague began. As Rouge's student and occasional director at the House of Skin clinic, Tripod sees finding his mentor as both a personal mission and potentially the key to understanding the plague that has destroyed nearly all sexually mature women.

Early scenes establish Tripod's deep respect for Rouge and the clinic's connection to dermatological research, hinting at why finding him matters.

Scientists trace the plague to cosmetic products, specifically beauty items that contained a virus which mutated and spread beyond control. The virus initially targeted sexually mature women, wiping them out completely, before mutating further to threaten men as well.

The film establishes early on that the dermatological clinic exists because of skin-related research, connecting cosmetics to the outbreak.

The cream-like white foam emerging from the five-year-old girl's mouth is a sign that she has been infected with the same plague ravaging the world. The chemicals used to artificially force her puberty have triggered the same deadly progression seen in adult women, confirming the plague's connection to accelerated development and showing how the outbreak continues to spread.

Scientists warned earlier that the virus had mutated and now threatened men, but the girl's condition suggests even children are not safe.

After his patient dies from the plague and he checks himself into a mental health clinic, Tripod becomes increasingly destabilized. His psychological state deteriorates as he grapples with grief, trauma, and dark curiosities. This vulnerability leads him into dangerous company, eventually aligning with a group of criminals involved in the plot to abduct and impregnate the child.

The mental health clinic sequence introduces Tripod's disturbing compulsions and willingness to cross moral boundaries.

One member of the criminal group cannot bring himself to go through with the assault of the five-year-old girl and leaves her untouched. This moment reveals a moral boundary even within a group of depraved individuals, forcing Tripod to witness both the depths of human corruption and the existence of a line some cannot cross.

The group's plan is presented as a desperate attempt to propagate humanity in a world without women, making the refusal even more significant.

During his time in the mental health clinic, Tripod becomes involved in foot fetishism, which underscores the film's exploration of desire and control in a defeminized world. With women virtually extinct, sexuality has become distorted, and bodies have become objects of strange fixation. This element reflects the film's broader examination of how societal collapse warps human intimacy and desire.

The foot fetishism emerges after Tripod's psychological breakdown, showing how trauma manifests in his relationships.

The group abducts a five-year-old girl and uses chemicals to force her into puberty so she could be impregnated. However, this artificial acceleration triggers the plague's symptoms in her, demonstrating that the same force driving the epidemic is linked to premature sexual maturation. The chemicals essentially accelerate the same fatal process that the plague causes naturally.

Scientists warned the virus had mutated, and the girl's condition suggests the plague responds to hormonal development.

Scientists in the film explain that the virus originally targeting sexually mature women has mutated. This mutation means the plague no longer discriminates by gender, and men are now also vulnerable. This escalation drives the desperation in the world, as the last remaining humans face total extinction.

The early warning about mutation sets up the ultimate hopelessness of the film's world.

Tripod checks into a mental health clinic after a patient at the House of Skin, someone he had grown close to, dies from the plague. The combination of grief, survivor's guilt, and the overwhelming trauma of living in a collapsed world causes him to seek professional help, though the clinic ultimately exposes his darkest curiosities rather than curing him.

The patient's death is the first major emotional blow Tripod experiences, destabilizing his entire psychological foundation.

These are specialized organizations Tripod aligns with during his search. They represent the new social structures that have emerged in the defeminized world, with different groups carving out niches in the post-plague society. Tripod uses these affiliations to gather information and resources as traditional institutions have collapsed.

The existence of these obscure organizations shows how society has fragmented into strange new factions.

The House of Skin is a dermatological clinic where Adrian Tripod works as occasional director. It represents the medical and scientific response to the plague crisis, focusing on skin-related research. The clinic is connected to Tripod's mentor Antoine Rouge and serves as the starting point for Tripod's quest to find answers about the epidemic.

The clinic's dermatological focus foreshadows the link between cosmetics, skin, and the plague's origin.

The film ends bleakly because Tripod witnesses the five-year-old girl displaying plague symptoms, confirming that even children are not safe from the infection. The artificial attempt to create new life has failed, and the plague continues to spread. This realization reinforces the film's dark meditation on unchecked scientific ambition and the impossibility of escaping the consequences of the defeminized world's collapse.

Throughout the film, warnings about the virus mutating and threatening everyone build toward this final, devastating confirmation.