VIVA is a darkly comic exploration of mortality that asks what it means to be truly alive. Written and directed by Aina Clotet, who also stars, it follows Nora, a researcher of cellular ageing who finds herself living in death’s shadow following her battle with breast cancer.
Set in a near-future Catalonia gripped by water shortages, apocalyptic imagery is rife: flies swarm, cockroaches crawl, and a pill-obsessed nun carries a scythe. Drought, insects, and a burning sun give this world a biblical intensity, transforming Nora’s private fears into an external reality.
Death chases Nora through her grandmother’s decline, a friend’s fears for her baby, and her own postponed biopsy. She constantly has brushes with death, whether she is teetering at the edge of a train track or involved in a comically anti-climactic car crash. Clotet finds humour in life’s fragility.
An affair with Max, a young DJ, offers an irresistible escape from Nora’s death-infested world. Carnival rides, dancing, and sweaty intimacy unfold in intense shades of red. This recurring visual motif allows Clotet to present the tangible and intense attraction between Max and Nora. Evoking lust, passion, and sin, the colour embodies everything Nora finds herself craving: a visceral reminder of what it feels like to be alive.
“Evoking lust, passion, and sin, [Clotet’s use of] the colour [red] embodies everything Nora finds herself craving: a visceral reminder of what it feels like to be alive.”
Her affair with Max is in stark contrast to her relationship with Tom, Nora’s partner of ten years. As the film progresses, his calm dependability becomes increasingly stifling. Though he offers security and stability in what feels like a life-threatening world, he is unable to provide the excitement Nora so desperately seeks. After all, what does the promise of a lifetime together mean when life feels so precarious?
The contrasting characters embody Nora’s struggle between stability and abandon. Played by Nabi Dakhli, Tom is grounded yet almost hyperbolically dull. He tends to his garden, lives in an eco house, and sends Nora a tree instead of flowers. His commitment to sustainability reflects a determination to preserve life, even as Nora becomes increasingly preoccupied with how to live it. His connection to the drought-stricken earth feels symbolic: their relationship has left her thirsty for something more.
“His connection to the drought-stricken earth feels symbolic: their relationship has left her thirsty for something more.”
Max, by contrast, revels in electronic music, partying and sex with the kind of carefree hedonism afforded by youth. Played by Marc Soler, he is brazen, charming, and something of a loveable rogue. For Nora, who has entered a period of reckless abandon, his youthful exuberance offers an intoxicating sense of freedom. While Tom represents the promise of a longer life, Max offers the thrill of living in the moment.
Her messy odyssey to reclaim her desire unfolds against the unsettling sense that both her body and the planet are living on borrowed time. By intertwining Nora’s fears about mortality with ecological collapse, Clotet creates a world in which the future feels increasingly uncertain. Introspective, darkly funny, and occasionally chaotic, VIVA ultimately asks whether embracing life means learning to live with the certainty of death.
VIVA screens at the 2026 Cambridge Film Festival on October 30th and November 1st.