Just yesterday my cinefile friend Bernie at Reely Bernie and I were discussing today’s featured movie Vivarium. Like him I only ‘quasi-liked’ it after first viewing, although the premise intrigued me and lingered somewhere in the recesses. Upon subsequent viewings of Vivarium with my precocious 8 year-old daughter Katherine Rose, my opinion changed where I found it unabashedly relatable to my life and bizarrely omnipresent somehow; which is not to discount the plethora of its detractors’, hence it’s IMDB score of 5.9.
There is something in this movie which will remain with me forever like I’m stuck in it somehow and remains part of me. I hope somehow someone can rescue me from it. I will be waiting.
Vivarium is similar to other peculiar movies which create their own universe and meaning (or lack there of) à la Being John Malkovich (reviewed here in 2021) and the Norwegian movie Den Brysomme Mannen (The Bothersome Man). There will be some spoilers in my article below, so you have been forewarned in case you wanted to see Vivarium.
IMDB Storyline:
A young couple is thinking about buying their starter home. And to this end, they visit a real estate agency where they are received by a strange sales agent, who accompanies them to a new, mysterious, peculiar housing development to show them a single-family home. There they get trapped in a surreal, maze-like nightmare.
As a viewer I too could sense the claustrophobia and lack of purpose which encapsulates the protagonists’ plight and pervades their consciousness. This is a horror film, but unlike any stereotypical horror film one might be accustomed. Despite being spat into the dark recesses of a macabre labyrinth designed to subject the victims to ‘slow-burning’ psychological trauma and decay; paradoxically there is an unnerving sense of a ‘futile’ freedom in their abandonment, isolation and illusion that they can do anything they want since there is apparently no direct oversight or retributions for actions including the following:
- burning a house down, but only to find it reemerge from the ashes the day after,
- driving around in circles to find they always end up from where they begin, and
- excavating their front lawn; to find this perverse (and unique) purpose fulfils the end goal of the ‘maker’ of having them dig their own grave for their impending demise. Happy days!
I found the actors, with the exception of Jessenberg (who I felt was miscast – did they require a big name?) gave very credible performances. The young boy and his adult-self felt obscenely real as ‘android’ nightmare facilitators. There are frequent scenes where Jessenberg’s character lights the tail-end of cigarettes in order to combat his stress which seems to associate the world of addiction to the harrowing confines of their maze. Also the relentless deluge of suffering through lack of purpose and meaning is so horrifyingly captured that I felt compelled to reflect on my own existence and examine whether what I am doing is aimed at indulging in self gratification and expedient dopamine hits (for however long that will last) in lieu of pursuing the ‘whole meaningful’ thing. See more here.
The universe presented in Vivarium is a ‘Hell’; one vastly distinct from the ‘Hell’ which emanates from the classic Bible telling: Gehenna is ‘Hell’ as it is translated in the new testament – Gehenna is a valley in the south – east of Jerusalem that symbolised death and destruction. It was here that child sacrifices to Moloch were performed. See the book of Kings in the old testament (2 Kings 16:3 and 21:6).
The ‘Hell’ in Vivarium seems more relatable to our current predicament living in a secular (rationalist – materialist) society largely void of classical moral and virtue teachings passed down from ancient times. This ‘Hell’ of a ghastly insignificant daily routine nestled in an existence lacking in any moral governance / guidance is as scary as anything put to us previously.
What I learnt from Vivarium besides the above, is if I found myself compelled to live with just one other person in such a ‘hell-hole’ as this movie portrays and their choice had also been stripped from them, I would be comforted in knowing it was either my daughter Katherine or my son Jesus Mateo to share it with. They have always been the angels on my shoulder, the apples of my eye and my shelter from the storm. They give me the most meaning, you see.
For further information, see ‘I Won’t Forget‘.
Thanks for reading.
References:
1. Vivarium (film) – Wikipedia
2. Vivarium (2019) – IMDB
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Hi there…if I may ask please…do you have any idea what’s happening with Dylan… haven’t seen him around in a while. 🙏🤍
I was going to ask you the same thing since I missed his posts and his responses to my articles. I don’t suppose you have direct contact with him?
Not direct contact…just over here. One of his posts sounded a little worrying in regards to health…or I could be assuming. I left him a msg on his last post ..no response.
Apologies…your shares are really great…I’m just a little uninformed on this to comment appropriately lol..
That is concerning to say the least given his ultimate post was about his health.
I’m going back to his last posts as well. The penultimate day he posted was June 26th where he wrote: ‘I’m quiet, words few…can’t concentrate, is this real…doctors words, echoing…is this my day of reckoning……..’
Oh wow.
I’ll try writing to him.
if you get a response and it’s okayed by him to share…please do…it really is concerning.
and thank you 🤍🙏
Yes, I just wrote to his account. I asked Nancy as well if she knew anything was up with him since she responded to his posts as well.
I thought of asking Nancy too…but since you did already… we’ll wait to hear from you.
If anything…it’s better if one communicates with him rather than us all as not to stress him out .
Yeh. Let’s see what comes from it, otherwise there isn’t much we can do. Thanks for raising the alarm in the first place since it was well overdue all things considered because of the hole that’s left without seeing his stuff.
true also… though hoping he responds to you.
thanks also…
Crossing fingers ‘big time’ that he responds to you or I or even better continues to post once again.
it’s been really long…he generally responds late but makes a point to comment on our posts… nothing for a while.
will drop a message on his posts as well.
It doesn’t look good, but it’s common people run in and outta blog world often depending on where they find themselves. He could be a drifter, I’m hoping at least.
it’s sad actually too…a wonderful presence here.
any response?
No, I’m afraid. I agree it’s sad, because I don’t think he would just leave like that.
still fingers crossed for something or the other from him…thank you for taking the time to respond and check also. If you hear anything, would appreciate you sharing…
will try again from my side too.
Of course if he replies I will pass it on, but it doesn’t seem likely. Although stranger things have happened.
I miss chatting with Tom since we have chatted almost daily for a couple of years sometimes about personal issues I couldn’t talk to anyone else about. I imagine you had that same closeness in your interactions. His absence is just starting to hit home and it’s not pretty.
I was just reviewing my messages here and his last message was June 27th where I responded to his message ‘How many times…still asking today.. about ‘Blowing in the Wind’. And he never responded as he usually does. I’m sure going to miss him. I’m going to cry.
I’ve also been going back and forth between our comments and he hasn’t responded or commented in too long a while….
Perhaps he’s just unwell and recovering I’m hoping…gosh and really praying it’s just this.
these interactions though confined to here… become of value and Dylan’s been one of those.
I understand how you feel…Hang in there and let’s see over the next few days if anything comes up…🤍🙏🤗
Your message raised in me some hope that it could be a temporary absence where he will bounce back in the not to distant future.
thank you again…I will be off wordpress…but please do leave a msg if you hear anything.🤍
Unless I’m mistaken Dylan just posted:
Walden, Wuthering Heights, many ties after that…
Hi there… on a break from writing and WP …but thank you sooo much for telling me…. I’ll be peeking in there now ….🤍🙏
I understand. Can you believe it? I have Wuthering Heights on my book shelf and it’s one of the very few books I couldn’t finish.
So glad lol … Kept thinking of him and hoping he was okay …
I finished it 😋 though years ago lol 🤣
might give it another read after this reminder.
seriously…thanks so much. Wouldn’t have known as I’ve been off here…🤍
You’re welcome!
I tried to read it, but couldn’t get into it. May be I wasn’t in the right head space. Since you have read it and Dylan mentioned it, I should give it another go sometime. Enjoy your time off.