Vivarium, the sophomore feature from writer/director Lorcan Finnegan, dredges up some real-life horrors in the strange in the desolate world it creates and puts viewers under the microscope for a mind-melting guessing game.
The film follows Gemma (Imogen Poots) and Tom (Jesse Eisenberg), a young couple in search of a new home. While their search hasn’t been successful, they eventually find themselves in the office of a strange salesman named Martin (Jonathan Aris), who introduces them to a private community named Yonder. In it, all the houses have the same perfect look and there are so many homes that entering it is like being in a mysterious, never-ending labyrinth. Once Gemma and Tom agree to see one of the houses in the neighborhood, they realize that they are unable to escape Yonder and are under the watchful eye of an unknown entity. Even stranger is that they are eventually given a baby in a box and simple instructions: “Raise the child and be released.”
Effective psychological horror films are often more character-driven and simplistic in design. Whenever I think back to some of my favorites, films like 1408 or It Comes at Night, it’s always the ones that are less focused on creating scares, than tension and unease. Finnegan and co-writer Garrett Shanley make this wise choice, creating an experience that’s constantly poking at viewers’ curiosity about what they’re watching. Yonder’s design is oddly entrancing and horrifying, with its endless streets and even the clouds being the same. Even the technical aspects create this endless inability to escape, with a great use of echoes and silence to create a feeling of pure isolation.
The true horrors, though, come when Gemma and Tom are given their baby and he grows up to be a monster in a way you just can’t put your finger on. Once the boy (Senan Jennings) grows into adolescence, the film’s nerve-racking and mind-melting intrigue really gets going. I don’t know if there’s ever been a horror antagonist so adorable on the outside but so innocently horrifying on inside. In some ways, like Gemma, it’s hard not to find yourself wondering what this boy’s intentions are or if he really has any at all. There are times where you question if he’s just innocently learning things or trying to be like Tom and Gemma and there are moments where he just gets under your skin with his gut-wrenching voice—especially the way he mimics and taunts them or his eardrum-shattering scream. He’s truly the film’s greatest question mark in the best way possible and easily one of the most alluring horror antagonists I’ve seen in quite some time thanks to Finnegan’s great direction and Jennings’s strong performance.
Poots and Eisenberg are also immaculate throughout the film as their committed performances evoke their respective characters’ growing desperation and struggles. They have a youthful, infectious chemistry right from the start and a budding connection that keeps viewers hopeful as they deteriorate over time. Eisenberg expresses all of the desperation and anger that Poots is trying to hold in and even through some of his harsher moments, he still brings out Tom’s genuine care for Gemma in a way that’s very endearing. Poots is the real MVP here, as she puts in a killer and much slyer performance because she is a little more covert in trying to unearth what’s really happening. Through her performance, viewers will connect to every ounce of anger, fear, and compassion she puts in and the way Gemma takes action in the film’s final act is perfect.
What’s really enlightening about Vivarium, though, is when it delves into the actions and emotions of being in isolation—something that everyone stuck inside because of the coronavirus can understand. While there’s no virus keeping Tom and Gemma in Yonder, they’re definitely stuck there and the lack of control they have in their own lives is what eventually showcases their unique ways of dealing with their situation. Gemma becomes slightly content and at times seems like she’s just giving in to what their lives have become. However, Tom is much more rebellious, becomes more negligent of the boy out of spite and even starts digging a hole in the front yard because it’s “something that he can do.”
Even the more cynical humor that Tom and Gemma develop is welcomed given their situation and comes off as genuine. From the message that they write on their house to their initial meeting with the adolescent boy, the film adds the perfect amount of humor to the otherwise tense situation. Even amongst the cynicism and genuine struggle, though, the film never loses its heart and the genuine connection you gain with Tom and Gemma is what makes Vivarium so heartbreaking. The film creates this bleak and depressing tone towards how Tom and Gemma reflect about their actions in isolation and whether or not either of them is right.
In some ways, it’s great for the film to be unafraid to explore these darker sides to modern humanity and it actually ties back perfectly to something Gemma says to one of her students in the beginning of the film. However, the film also presents a much more interesting third way of coping in a conversation between Tom and Gemma that’s incredibly endearing and hopeful. It offers a moment of reflection that’s genuinely heartwarming in the moment because Poots and Eisenberg’s chemistry is so strong. Vivarium is a film that’s incredibly thought-provoking without trying too hard and the way it never makes its intentions or meaning too clear is one of the more interesting things about it. Even now, I can’t decide whether the boy’s ending is great or sad and it’s really a film that leaves you thinking. Its gripping performances, intriguing atmosphere, real-world implications, and overall thought-provoking psychological horror give it the makings of a true cult classic of the genre.
