Diorama is a romantic drama movie written and directed by Tuva Novotny and stars Pia Tjelta, David Dencik and Morgan Alling, alongside other cast members. The movie has a runtime of 100 minutes.
Netflix describes the movie as:
As miscommunication and temptations abound, a couple’s once-passionate marriage slowly unravels, narrated through humorous dioramas.
– Diorama Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Ah, another movie about the difficulties that life presents to us as we get older and how life can drive a wedge between two perfectly good people. Or maybe it’s our decisions that do that.
When we start Diorama, Frida and Bjorn are two perfectly normal people who have just moved in together. They are in love and seem excited at the prospect of sharing a life with each other. Before long, it’s been 10 years with 3 kids in the picture.
Diorama is probably the disclaimer that marriage and family life should come with. I mean, it’s not all bad, but god, is it depressing to watch two perfectly fine individuals losing themselves to the monotony of life. The director compares our relationships with those of other animals in the animal kingdom, and the result is… interesting. While with obvious differences, these scenes are colourful and oftentimes funny but mostly seem like a weird PSA on sex.
On the other hand, the relationship between Bjorn and Friday is messy and imperfect and feels on the brink of collapse at any possible moment. Their scenes are almost always in the backdrop of chaotic and grey walls and drabby scenes. Their surroundings feel as tired as their lives and the long, drawn-out scenes and dialogues are almost embarrassing to witness.
Diorama, however, is tiringly slow. Some of the animal sex PSA is fun, but there’s simply too much of that. So much that you don’t want to sit and watch 4 people go on and on about genes and DNA sequences and whatnot. I get it; relationships are all scientific and have deeper things going than just following our hearts. But I don’t think anyone cares as much as the movie wants us to believe.
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Even the principal couple’s descent into chaos becomes a bit too much after some time. The movie looks closely at what stagnation and boredom can do to your life, but, my god, are these people just vile. It’s difficult to sit through watching two adults be absolutely insufferable. Also, the fact that there have been several movies like this over the years.
That being said, the movie does have some heartbreaking moments that you won’t be able to ignore. They’re just nestled between long blocks of dialogues and two people acting like incessant toddlers.
Summing Up: Diorama
Diorama is a tiring watch about love, life, monotony and how it all comes down to our genetic makeup. Regardless, it has its moments, but it’s mostly really tiring to watch two grown people fight like this, mostly because the lesson gets lost in those fights somewhere.
Diorama is streaming on Netflix.