I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

Directed by: Charlie Kaufman | 134 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis, Guy Boyd, Hadley Robinson, Gus Birney, Abby Quinn, Colby Minifie, Anthony Robert Grasso, Teddy Coluca, Jason Ralph, Oliver Platt, Frederick Wodin, Ryan Steele, Unity Phelan

Charlie Kaufman, who began his film career as a screenwriter on films such as ‘Being John Malkovich’ (1999) and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ (2004), and later directed films such as ‘Synecdoche, New York’ (2008) and ‘Anomalisa ‘ (2015), has a very distinct world of thought. There is always something absurd, inventive and inadequate about his films. This also applies to his first Netflix film: ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’. In his third directing work, he shows that he knows how to perfectly adapt Iain Reid’s award-winning debut novel and yet deliver an unmistakably Kaufmanesque film. All his fixed themes (identity, depression, the subconscious and doomed relationships) are all present again and never inflicted so confrontationally. For all his fans it is a more than welcome reunion.

Jessie Buckley plays a young woman who is waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up for a trip to his parents in the countryside. Oddly enough, she can’t remember how long they’ve been dating, although she does know it can’t be more than seven weeks. Jesse Plemons plays her boyfriend Jake, who has a habit of talking to her just as she begins her voiceover, just as if he were hearing her thoughts. Along the way, a thought begins to settle in the woman’s head: “I’m thinking about ending things.” Only it never becomes clear what exactly she wants to end: does she want to end their relationship or does she want to commit suicide? Or does this thought mean something completely different?

Things get creepier when she meets his parents, wonderfully played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis. The woman is increasingly troubled by Jake’s parents, who seem to constantly change their appearance in an unpleasant way. Inside the house is also a scratch-strewn door to the basement, which is under no circumstances allowed to open – and a blizzard is raging outside that prevents them from leaving. The longer she stays in the house, the more questions she starts to question her new boyfriend.

Most of the tension in ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ stems from the mysterious world that Kaufman has shaped here. More and more questions are being asked. Why is the young woman addressed by several names? Is she a waitress or a painter? Why does she claim to take multiple studies? The questions gradually pile up, but the strangeness never ends. At some point, Jake’s parents change in age from young parents to seniors with dementia. This happens from one scene to the next without any explanation, leaving the viewer wanting nothing more than to know what exactly is going on here and getting more and more interested. If you look closely, you will not only notice such obvious changes, but also very small differences in the decor of the house or in the outfits of the characters. However, Kaufman doesn’t easily give away what’s behind this. He largely leaves it to his viewers to find their own explanation. But even if you get completely lost in this plot, you can still indulge yourself in all the beautiful images of cameraman Lukasz Zal (‘Ida’). The stark, yet captivating locations are a feast for the eyes.

Kaufman also gives just the right space for his actors to make a great movie with him. The acting of the cast is to die for. Plemons in particular delivers a sublime performance with subtle body language with which he performs his best role to date. Jesse Plemons is such an actor that you recognize from various films, but whose name you sometimes forget. That now seems to be definitely changing. In ‘El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’ it was already a pleasure to enjoy his fantastic role as Todd, the pragmatic and humorous psychopath he played so well in ‘Breaking Bad’. In this film, he stars as the depressed Jake. Rarely has a character been so pitiful. His co-star, Jessie Buckley, is also not a household name. We may know her best as Lyudmilla Ignatenko in the HBO series ‘Chernobyl’. Buckley is extraordinary as the young woman, largely thanks to her ability to express her growing uneasiness without resorting to the hysteria that another actress might have opted for. She knows how to perfectly portray the fear and melancholy that characterize her role, without apparently doing anything for it. Together with David Thewlis and Toni Collette, these actors portray four completely believable characters.

‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is an extraordinary film that should be seen by every film buff. It’s a film that puts its ambitions and originality above any entertainment value. The film goes against the mainstream and shows that there is still room for new stories. Kaufman takes his film to the highest possible level and delivers a true piece of art that could well become the most important work of his career.