- Thirty-somethings in search of an apartment find themselves detained in a strange city.
- This cruel tale scratches consumer society and the supposed perfection it tries to impose.
- "Vivarium" interweaves various influences to give an original work.
Everything is going well for the best of all worlds for the young couple from Vivarium . Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots have all the perfect housekeeping when they land in an apparently ideal residence. If not, they won't be able to get out.
This creaky comedy, discovered during the Cannes Film Festival's Critics' Week before being presented at the Gérardmer Festival, shares the nightmare of ordinary young people. "It's a tale that is both surreal and twisted, at the same time dark, ironically funny, sad and scary," says director Lorcan Finnegan in the press kit. The spectator gets carried away with the heroes in a closed camera made even more anxious by the fact that the heroes are trapped in a suburban city.
Perfection, what anguish!
These clean thirties seem to embody the perfect duo. Tom and Gemma are the couple we show in pubs of all kinds. They only need one more child to tick all the boxes imposed on them by society. The Irish director, who signs his second feature film here without Without Name (2016), will give it to them in the most astonishing way, reinforcing their anguish and the discomfort of the public.
The influences, what happiness!
Lorcan Finnegan knows fantastic cinema well and it shows! His film evokes the series The Fourth Dimension by the way it twists everyday life to turn it into a nightmare. His virulent criticism of the consumer society also brings to mind John Carpenter's Invasion Los Angeles in his creaky way of humor to denounce his excesses.
View this post on Instagram
_ VIVARIUM EUA, 2019 Lorcan Finnegan Imogen Poots (Gemma), Jesse Eisenberg (Tom) Lorcan Finnegan deslumbra con una sci-fi ingeniosa, tan insólita como desconcertante, claustrofóbica y distópica en grado sumo. 'Vivarium' is una fábula perversa sobre una pareja perfecta en busca de una casa perfecta en un barrio residencial de las afueras (no tan perfecto), basada en una historia del propio director. Impeccable Guión, montaje y decorados (laberínticos), y una interpretación de la pareja protagonista, Imogen Poots y Jesse Eisenberg (juntos de nuevo tras 'El arte de defenderse'), singular y extraordinaria. 🎬🎬🎬 _ (Sitges, FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA FANTÀSTIC DE CATALUNYA, 2019)
A post shared by TriaCinema (@tria_cinema) on Oct 18, 2019 at 2:35 pm PDT
The style, what a slap!
Lorcan Finnegan makes the most of a budget that one imagines riquiqui to build a very creepy city of which Tim Burton, David Lynch or René Magritte could have been the architects. The coldness of this world, a series of similar demoralizing green houses, gives shivers down your spine and makes you sympathize with the urge of the 30s to go elsewhere, quickly.
Lorcan Finnegan, what a discovery
Vivarium is clearly the film of a lover of genre cinema. Lorcan Finnegan multiplies borrowings from his filmmakers and bedside artists which does not prevent him from finding his own style. Combining social fable, horrific tale and "arty" aesthetic, he offers a singular work that makes you want to follow very closely the rest of his filmography.
Culture
Gérardmer 2020: The grand prize (and three other trophies) for "Saint Maud"
Culture
Gérardmer Festival: The favorite French fantasy films of the great genre cinema family are ...
- Cannes film festival
- Cinema outings
- Cinema