MovieChat Forums > Womb (2011) Discussion > The beach house, how did they...?

The beach house, how did they...?

posted 11 years ago by tnguyen
9 replies | jump to latest

Well this is an intriguing movie and raised many questions. But the one that stuck in my head: how did they get electricity and water into that beach house? And where would the sewer goes? I know it's a bit odd to be focusing on this aspect of this movie. But it's just bug me. I'm not asking how would the movie might explains it. I'm sure in the future world where cloning is possible, all those household utilities could be easily answers. They could have solar power, portable desalination, recyclable waste, or some other exotic techs. No, what I want to know, is the beach house real. If so how would they solve the electricity, water and sewer problems. As there were not any visible utilities lines leading to or away from the house. Or is the house a movie set, purpose built for this movie. Anyone knows?

[–] Stevarooni 11 years ago

Given that it's essentially science fiction (look at the critter Tommy was given as a child). I agree, that kind of house-on-stilts probably wouldn't have modern amenities like that, especially with no visible plumbing or electrical lines under the house. :D But as a pseudo-explanation, why not a septic tank and compact desalinator, and with power supplied by microwave feed from a nearby power plant or orbital solar panels? The lines are all concealed within the pylons, leaving an old-school feel that's the envy of their neighbors.

Or you could heed the ancient words:

If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
And other science facts,
Just repeat to yourself "It's just a movie,
I should really just relax
For Womb."

(Inspired by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme song.)

[–] dudditslucky7 11 years ago

Yeah, the house seemed pretty cut off and remote, yet, they had internet, water, full utilities as far as I could tell, and I don't have any explanation for that. Also, money never seemed to be an issue, and I wondered about that. Surely having a person cloned would be very expensive, and I wondered how Rebecca managed to pay the fees for the procedure. Also, especially after they move to the isolated beach house, they never show Rebecca as being employed or working anywhere. I wondered what she did for money, or how she managed to keep her and Tommy fed and clothed....I think she even only owned a bike to get to and from places. How did she carry groceries back from the store? Lots of questions arise in this film, and not many are answered.

[–] rutakate 8 years ago

Well if you were truly paying attention to the film. You would have some of your answer.

The answer for the job, is in the beginning. When she comes back from Japan and goes to Tommy's house. Her, Tommy and Rose were sitting at his table talking. Tommy asked, "Are you going back?" She said, "No, no I finished my degree." Then he asked, "What did you study?" she said "Maths". Then he asked,"What are you doing now?" She said, "I design software for Sonar Devices." So, there is your answer to her job, she designs software. Designing software is something you can easily do at home on your computer. As for money since she studied maths and works for a software company one would think that she is making good money. So she could pay for the cloning, food, house, clothes and toys. You know she works because they had a computer. You do see her work. First, when clone Tommy and his friend drag in this plastic tarp through the house she was on the computer, which could indicate that she was working. When clone Tommy asked her about his father you see her working on the computer. You saw the computer screen doing things. It said specimen which shows she was working on a software. When Tommy was in the bathroom you saw her on the computer which could mean she was working but it looked like she might have fallen asleep. Also, remember it is a movie they don't show everything. When he is in school she could be working. When he is with his friends and we don't see her she could be working. There are many jobs that you can do from home on a computer. So, yeah you can see her working at least once the other two times she could have been working or not, most likely she was.

Yes, she did own a bike so did clone Tommy. She had a basket attached to her bike so did Tommy when they were riding by Rose and the other mothers you saw baskets attached to their bikes. She was also placing pine cones in a basket for Tommy's party. The part of them moving into the beach house they added a cart to the front of her bike and one behind Tommy's bike. The scene before she gives him the toy you can see a cart on her bike and her grabbing bags. So, bringing back groceries is not a problem since she can add a cart or a basket on her bike. Many people around the world have bikes only and use baskets to carry things from one place to another. Also, for the most part she was only feeding the two of them for a long time so she didn't need that much food.

As for the remote place and have everything like others said you can easily place all the wires in the sand. Also get a septic tank. There are ways. But I don't think they are that remote considering that they had neighbors. The boy in the yellow rain coat was her neighbor. Remember, he said, "I am your neighbor". To me that indicates that they are not that remote. For all we know their could be a street and houses not to far away from them.

Some of your questions are easily answered if you paid attention to what was being spoken, what you saw and a bit of thinking or common sense.

[–] dudditslucky7 8 years ago

Thanks for the answers (although, most are conjecture), but there's no need to be rude and insulting. As far as common sense goes, you used the wrong their (should have been there) and to (too). Thanks for being a dick, though.

[–] Simon-140 9 years ago

I couldn't see anything SciFi or futuristic about this film.

"The critter" Toomy was given, was just an electromechanical dinosaur, which you can buy now.

There are houses in the outback of Australia that are much, much more remote than the beach shack, yet they get moderately fast ADSL.

As for the plumbing, electricity & sewerage, that could all be done with buried pipes.

The futuristic elements were the scale of cloning and the laws that allowed it.

[–] Simon-140 9 years ago

I imagine there was a large, rubber hose carrying electricity to the house, a second hose carrying water to a rooftop tank (for pressure), and a buried sewerage pipe just running a few hundred metres out to sea. (Actually, apart from the sewerage pipe, that wouldn't even be expensive. We had a beach house in some sand dunes, that was arranged this way.)

I can see the market for homes on grey, wind-blown, lonely stretches of beach soaring after this film. (Sadly, such sites are illegal where I live, at least if you're trying to build within 10m of the highest tide mark of the year. OTOH, perhaps I should be pleased given some of the the houses in California.)

[–] Xeokym 9 years ago

I was pretty mesmerized by the locale myself, and wondered if the "beach house" was a real place or if they constructed it just for the movie. I looked up the location it was filmed, which is Hallig Langeneß, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Just plug that into Google images & you will see pics of real homes there. But as for the beach house on stilts, it would seem like eventually a storm would come along big enough to wipe it out, either just by raising the tide, strong winds, or very big waves. It's not that homes like that don't exist - they do. In the U.S. there are quite a lot of beach homes on stilts along the eastern shore, I've stayed in them before for vacation. But I haven't been able to find out if that beach house was made just for the movie or did it already exist.

[–] Simon-140 9 years ago

Thanks for the reference. When I saw the location on a map, I remembered that I'd read an old spy novel, called The Riddle of the Sands, which was set in the same area. (The book was also made into a film of the same name in 1979, which I've also seen, but IMDB doesn't give the filming locations.)

Aren't the stilt houses along the East coast of the US mainly in the Carolinas, where they are protected from storms by sand bars, like the houses in the Friesen Islands in Womb? As you say, it's hard to imagine a home on stilts surviving long in direct Atlantic or North Sea storms.

[–] Daenerys-Stormborn 7 years ago

Houses located that far from a regular neighborhood usually have equipment to store that power or run an underwater cable from the nearest power source. As for water, I think they consume treated Ocean water since its easily available. Water isn't a big deal for them, they're gonna use whatever's available.

There lies his crown in water deep, till Durin wakes again from sleep.