CULTURE |
FILM
REVIEWhome is far beyond the young couple’s means and even before Vivarium veers off into
existential dread, it’s clear Gemma and Tom resent this identikit pad that society
deems aspirational. Then things rapidly get weird: Martin disappears mid-sales pitch,
and when Gemma and Tom try to drive off the estate they keep missing a turn and
ending up right back where they started. As darkness falls, they decide to crash in the
show home. It’ll only be for one night, right?
That fateful decision sets up the rest of this claustrophobic chiller, as reality shifts
and warps around the couple who find themselves imprisoned in their aggressively
banal home. Food supplies mysteriously arrive in the street. Later, an unexpected
cardboardbox containsaneven more disturbingdelivery.Thisimpossiblesituation
putsanunderstandablestrainonGemmaandTom’srelationshipastheystruggleto
comprehendtheirbizarreplight.Theoppressivesurrealismishintedatinthe
perma-blue sky with perfect white clouds, like the background of a Magritte painting.
Anyone who takes a second to look up the title might have an inkling as to what
is going on but director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Garret Shanley go to great
lengths to string out their dream-logic fable with the help of some striking – if
understandably repetitive – production design. The filmmakers were apparently
inspired by a David Attenborough-narrated segment about an Argentinian cuckoo but
there is nothing soothing here. Everything is designed to set the central couple, and
the audience, on edge.
No filmexists inavacuumsothistightlycontrolledstory ofacouplesuddenly
isolatedfromsociety,rummagingthroughboxesofsuppliestosurviveforan
unknownlengthoftime, arriveswithsomeunexpectedcontemporaryparallels.
It all feeds into a palpable sense of unease, adding fuel to a fable that offers only
disturbing answers.
Eisenberg might be the marquee name but Vivarium ends up being much more of
a showcase for Poots, whose empathetic nature even in the middle of such oppressive
circumstancesiskey tounlockingoneofthefilm’s circuitousmysteries.When
everythingaroundGemmaandTom feels slipperyandunreal,Poots’ naturalistic
performancegivesVivariumsomevaluableemotionalballast.Itisenoughtomake
thischicbutbleakandtwistedfairytalefeel like more thanjustamid-season
BlackMirror episode.Vivarium will be available on VOD from March 27
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Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen
Poots get some surprisesA couple get more than
they bargained for when
they go househunting,
says Graeme VirtueHome
discomforts
I
n the decade since he played Mark
Zuckerberg in The Social Network, Jesse
Eisenberg has cornered the market
in socially awkward know-it-alls
and fast-talking fusspots. So when he first
appears on screen in Vivarium – a rug-pulling
contemporary nightmare about a fully
furnished dream home – it adds to the general
sense of unease when his Tom appears to be
a chilled-out handyman who knows his way
around a set of tools. A likeable Eisenberg
charactercomfortableinhisown skinand
anoutdoorsyCarharttjacket?Thattrulydoes
seemlike atwistworthyofTheTwilightZone.
Tom and his nursery teacher girlfriend
Gemma (Imogen Poots) are grudgingly
attempting to hoist themselves up on to the
property ladder. After wandering into an
anonymous estate agent, they find themselves
talked into visiting a new housing estate by
a supremely odd sales rep called Martin who
makes Stath from daft Channel 4 sitcom Stath
Lets Flats seem as debonair as Roger Moore.
After arriving at the Yonder development – a
disorientating maze of detached houses
uniformly painted a supposedly soothing but
actually sickly green – Gemma and Tom poke
around one of the properties, conspiratorially
mocking the placeholder home decor and
chintzy welcome basket. A Yonder starter32 | BIGISSUE.COM 23 -29 MARCH 2020