VIVARIUM

Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, 2019, 97 minutes, Colour.
Imogen Poots, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Aris, Senan Jennings, Eana Hardwicke.
Directed by Lorcan Finnegan.

It is probably useful to check on a definition of the title word, one that is not normally used in frequent conversation.

A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: vivaria or vivariums) is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Often, a portion of the ecosystem for a particular species is simulated on a smaller scale, with controls for environmental conditions.

And there is some further precision: A vivarium may be small enough to sit on a desk or table, such as a terrarium or an aquarium, or may be a very large structure, possibly outdoors.

While we are wondering about the title, the film opens in a pleasantly ordinary way. Gemma (Imogen Poots) is a successful kindergarten teacher. Tom (Jesse Eisenberg) works on trees and gardening. Off they go to a real estate agent, testing the possibility of buying a house together.

There is an alert with Martin, the agent, behaving in a puzzling and robotic way. He persuades them to go with him to examine the house – while the interiors seem very suitable, we sense a tension when there are rows and rows of streets with identical, identical homes. So, this is what a suburban Vivarium could look like.

And then, there is a growing sense of menace, as Martin disappears, as the couple get in their car, drive to leave, find themselves continually going in circles, arriving again at the house, No 9, eventually running out of petrol, then walking in circles, finally stranded.

Gemma and Tom are trapped in this suburban Vivarium. How will they cope? Food appears outside the front door in boxes, delivered anonymously. Then a baby is delivered. Then a patch of soil appears on the front lawn and Tom begins to dig, to dig, to dig, deeper and deeper, keeping himself occupied, but becoming obsessed. In the meantime, Gemma tries to manage with the baby.

If audiences want to know what happens with the baby – and quite a lot does, highly dramatic, increasingly menacing…, then see the film.

No explanations are given. There is no indication as to who is controlling the experiment and observing in this Vivariuim. How significant are our speculations as to this image of never-ending streets and houses as a symbol of our contemporary world? Is there no control? And what of any indications of transcendence? Any place for God…?

Gemma experiences the equivalent of a nightmare during the day, all the inhabitants of the houses trapped in the Vivarium. Life and death? No escape?

The screenplay does not spell out answers for audiences who want something clear at the end. It is over us to continue our responses, increasingly alarmed, increasingly pessimistic.


1. The title? A special construct for observing humanity and behaviour? The maze, the houses and streets, the repetition? A couple literally buried alive?

2. The Irish settings, the town, the school, the estate agent? The streets in the countryside, the welcoming poster? The repetition of the streets, the repetition of the houses? The current the street? Driving through the maze and getting lost? Number 9? The interiors of the house? The ever deepening hall? The musical score?

3. The introduction to Gemma, teaching the small children, her joy, the little girl at the dead bird, knocking on the tree, Tom and his working? They’re going to the agent?

4. Martin, robot -like, his explanations, persuasion, driving the couple to the house, his steel in the house, the advantages of the house, his disappearance?

5. The couple, escaping, driving, continually going in circles, running out of petrol, exhausted, walking, lost? The box of food in the street? The message about that caring for the boy? The baby in the box? The reactions?

6. The sudden growth of the boy, from baby to boy? His manner, robot-like? Claiming Gemma and his mother and her refusing? His capacity for mimicking Gemma and Tom? His screaming? Watching the patterns on the television set? Going to bed, never dreaming?

7. Tom, the cigarette, burning the grass, the earth and patch, his digging and continuing to dig, the depth of the whole? Having something to do? Gemma, in the house, the care for the boy, his demands, mimicry, saying she was not his mother?

8. Time passing, the repetition, the boy growing older, the same experiences?

9. The boy growing up, Martin, his manner, clothes, in the house, the exasperation of Gemma and Tom? His disappearances? Gemma following him and getting lost? The continued boxes?

10. Tom, his weariness, discovering the body and the tarpaulin in the whole? Gemma calling out, coming to him, his final words, his death? Martin appearing? Putting the body in the Shroud, down the hole?

11. Gemma pursuing Tom, his lifting the pavement, the world underneath, mysterious, the woman at the table, beloved makers, the dead man in the bar…? Gemma emerging, Martin and his treatment, in the shroud, her being thrown down the hall?

12. Martin, returning to the shop, the next couple and the repetition?

13. The twilight zone experience, metaphors for existence, limbo, death?