Vivarium (film)

Vivarium is a 2019 science fiction thriller film directed by Lorcan Finnegan, from a story by Finnegan and Garret Shanley. An international co-production between Ireland, Denmark and Belgium, it stars Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2019, and was released in Ireland on 27 March 2020 by Vertigo Releasing. 
Plot.
The opening scene depicts the parasitic lifecycle of cuckoos, starting with a cuckoo depositing her egg in the nest of another bird. The cuckoo chick pushes the other baby birds out of the nest and, by the end, has grown disturbingly larger than its surrogate mother, who continues feeding the ravenous intruder. 
After school, Gemma (Imogen Poots) a primary school teacher, meets her boyfriend Tom (Jesse Eisenberg), a handyman. They drive to an estate agent's to enquire about buying a house. The agent, Martin (Jonathan Aris), greets them in a strange manner, in an office filled with identical model houses. They tell him they're not interested in the properties, but he insists on taking them to see one, and they follow him to a suburban development called Yonder, which is filled with identical green houses. 
Martin shows them around house number 9. He asks if they have children, and when Gemma replies, “No, not yet”, he mimics her reply perfectly. They look around the garden, then reenter the house to find that Martin is gone. They drive out the way they came in, but find themselves at number 9 again. In disbelief, they drive around the endless, identical streets until they run out of petrol.
They sleep in the house. The next morning, Tom climbs to the roof and gapes at the rows of identical roofs stretching out to the horizon. They try to escape on foot, but consistently return to number 9. They find a box full of vacuum-packed food and supplies has been left in front of the house. 
In desperation, Tom sets fire to the house, and they sleep on the pavement. When they awake, another box has been left for them. This time it contains a baby, and the message, RAISE THE CHILD AND BE RELEASED. When the smoke clears, they see that the house is undamaged.
98 days later, the baby has grown to resemble a ten-year old boy who mimics speaks in a strange, adult-like voice and mimics Tom and Gemma's voices. The creature demands attention and emits a high-pitched scream when he doesn't get it. Gemma prepares the tasteless food delivered to them. They sit together in the garden with a pickaxe, waiting to attack whomever delivers and collects the boxes, but they see no one. The Boy stands watching them.
Tom starts to dig a hole in the garden, thinking it will lead somewhere. He becomes withdrawn, digging the hole all day and sleeping at the bottom. In the living room, the Boy sits before the television, which shows bizarre, fractal-like patterns.
When Gemma's maternal instincts cause her to care for the creature, Tom locks it in their car, intending to starve it. However, Gemma takes pity on the creature and continues caring for it. They play games and have a picnic while Tom digs relentlessly. One day the Boy goes missing, and returns with a book full of strange symbols and images of humanoids with throat sacs. When Gemma asks him to mimic the person who gave him the book, he makes strange, rasping sounds and inflates his throat sacs.
Soon the Boy has matured to resemble a young adult, and Tom and Gemma have grown fearful of him. Gemma prepares his meals, and she and Tom eat in their bedroom, which they have barricaded. Tom becomes sick, coughing and unable to wash himself. The Boy leaves during the day, and Gemma tries to follow him, but always finds herself back at number 9. Tom continues to dig, and he finds a body in a vacuum bag.
The Boy locks Gemma and Tom out of the house. They sleep in the car. Tom grows sicker. When Gemma pleads with the Boy for medicine for Tom, he replies, "Maybe it's time he is released." When Tom dies in Gemma’s arms, the Boy zips him into a vacuum bag and throws it into the deep hole Tom has dug.
After another night locked out, Gemma ambushes the Boy with the pickaxe but only manages to wound him. The creature hisses and crawls on all fours into a labyrinth under the pavement. Gemma follows it and crashes through the door into a red-tinted house, where another Boy sits watching television patterns while a different woman sobs at the kitchen table. Gemma sinks through the floor into a green bedroom where a couple are having sex and a different Boy watches and claps. Gemma is sucked through the wall and into a purple bathroom, where a man has committed suicide.
She lands back in number 9, weak and moaning. The Boy is cleaning the house. He carries her to a vacuum bag and explains that mothers die after raising their sons. She says she isn’t his mother, and dies as he zips her in.
The Boy buries her with Tom and fills the hole, which then disappears. After filling their car with gas, he drives back to the estate office, where an aged Martin lies dying in his chair. Martin hands the Boy his nametag, then expires, having finished his lifecycle. The Boy puts Martin in a vacuum bag, folds it up, and puts it into a file drawer. He sits down in Martin’s chair and waits, then stands up when another couple walks in the door.
Production.
In May 2018, it was announced that that Lorcan Finnegan would direct "Vivarium" from a story he co-wrote with Garret Shanley, and that Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots had joined the cast. It was shot in locations in Belgium and Ireland before moving to Ardmore Studios, Wicklow, Ireland.
Release.
"Vivarium" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2019. Shortly after, Saban Films and Vertigo Releasing acquired US and UK distribution rights, respectively. It was released in the United States, UK and Ireland on 27 March 2020, with a limited theatrical release and video-on-demand release the same day. It was released on September 3, 2020 in Saudi Arabia's cinema.
Reception.
On Rotten Tomatoes, "Vivarium" has an approval rating of 72% based on 130 reviews, with an average rating of 6.57/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Vivarium" may confound almost as often as it intrigues, but this well-acted sci-fi/horror hybrid has interesting ideas—and explores them with style." On Metacritic, the film has weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".