I’m Thinking of Ending Things
WARNING : Spoilers forI’m mentation of Ending Things .
InI’m Thinking of Ending Things , a young female character experience mystifying phone calls , so who ’s on the other end ? The Netflix moving-picture show initially plays out like a quirky relationship drama , but then evolves into a surrealist character study about erotic love , loss , and ruefulness . Written and directed by the eclectic filmmakerCharlie Kaufman , I’m Thinking of Ending Thingsis base on Iain Reid ’s 2016 eponymous novel .
star Jesse Plemons and Jessie Buckley , I’m Thinking of Ending Things’titular conceptstems from insecurities faced by a couple during the early stage of their relationship . On a snowy eve , Jake ( Plemons ) drives girlfriend Lucy ( Buckley ) to his parents ' rest home for a first group meeting , only something feels off from the start . Jake can ostensibly learn Lucy ’s inner dialogue , and then behaves oddly when arriving at the land destination ; he refuses to participate his former home right off , and instead gives Lucy a attribute tour while explaining the deaths of various sheep and pigs . When the couple finally joins"Mother"(Toni Collette ) and"Father"(David Thewlis ) for dinner party , Lucy comes to realize that Jake most likely had a difficult childhood . But what troubles her the most are incoming phone calls that she does n’t answer to .
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Within the first 10 second ofI’m Thinking of Ending Things , Lucy receives a call from someone named"Lucy . “Shortly after , Jake references an early 19th one C verse form by English writer William Wordsworth entitled"Ode : Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood . “Jake then informs his lady friend Lucy that Wordsworth once wrote a serial of poems for a womanhood named Lucy , whom he describes as a"beautiful , idealize charwoman who dies young . “Later , during the family dinner , Lucy notices that she has several missed calls from"Lucy"and now"Louisa . “After the family dinner , she spots a photograph that appear to be herself as a shaver , and the case then vary to a untested version of Jake during a 2nd coup d’oeil . Seconds by and by , Lucy receives a phone call from"Yvonne . “From this peak forth , it ’s intemperately implied inI’m Thinking of Ending ThingsthatLucy is a figment of Jake ’s imagery , and that the elder janitor ( Gus Boyd ) - who frequently appears in side sequences - has woolgather up the entire tale while reflecting about his life . The mystical margin call are messages from the janitor to his subconscious .
The deep phone calls inI’m Thinking of Ending Thingsthematically link to the opening bit . During voiceover narration , Lucy states that"It feels like I ’ve known Jake longer than I have . “The character stands on a urban center pavement and look to the sky as snow falls , and then feels drawn to something in the second or third level of a nearby building . The aforementioned janitor look down at Lucy and murmur to himself:“The assumptions are correct . I can experience my fear growing . Now is the time for the answer . Just one doubtfulness . “Seconds later , Plemons ' Jake render up , and the narrative by rights start , or so it seems . With this early passing instant inI’m Thinking of Ending Things , Kaufman establishes the premise for the cryptic telephone set calls , evidenced by the fact that the mid - picture voicemail from"Yvonne"includes a assembly line from the opening:“There ’s only one interrogation to answer . "
By the 70 - second marker inI’m Thinking of Ending Things , Buckley ’s character receive a voicemail from"Louisa"that reinforcesthe janitor connection . A man ’s spokesperson states that"There ’s only one question to resolve . I ’m frightened . I palpate a small crazy . I ’m not lucid . The supposition are right . I can experience my fear uprise . Now is the prison term for the solvent . Just one interrogative sentence , one question to answer . “In this minute , Buckley ’s character has just jeopardize off into the basement of Jake ’s family home and spots various landscape painting paintings , along with janitor clothing in the washer . The implication are clean to the audience , but not so much to Buckley ’s role . Lucy is a mental projection of Jake ’s imagination .
So , what do the telephone call really mean ? The answer may rest in Buckley ’s dialog right after the last phone call . On the way of life back"home,“the fair sex known as Lucy suppose , via spokesperson narrative , that"People wish to conceive of themselves as points proceed through metre . But I think it ’s probably the opposite . We ’re stationary , and metre hand through us , blowing like cold wind , slip our heating , depart us chap and frozen . “Given thatI’m Thinking of Ending Thingsends with the janitor freeze to death , it seems that his messaging to various subconscious conception is symbolical of biography ’s obstacles . For Lucy , there ’s weirdly still a number of Bob Hope in her foreign , subconscious existence , but she ’s at the mercy of something bigger — in this vitrine , Jake ’s free will to finish things .
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