Warning: Major SPOILERS ahead for I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
Charlie Kaufman's new Netflix movie I'm Thinking Of Ending Things deliberately makes it unclear what's real and what isn't. Adapted from Canadian writer Iain Reid's 2016 novel, the movie ostensibly follows a young woman as she meets her boyfriend's parents. But as with all Kaufman outings, things aren't quite as they seem, with the film descending into a disorienting fever dream of a narrative where reality itself becomes a questionable concept.
The film opens with Jesse Plemons' Jake and his girlfriend, Lucy (Jessie Buckley) driving to meet Jake's parents at their farm. Things quickly become surreal as Lucy experiences Jake's parents, Suzie (Toni Collette) and Dean (David Thewlis) – rounding out an impressive cast for I'm Thinking Of Ending Things – at various stages of their life, despite seemingly being at their farm house for a single evening. Characters' clothes and demeanors change from scene to scene, as does Lucy's name, occupation, and personality, and there's a general intensity to the whole visit as Kaufman builds this truly unnerving mystery. Then, much like the novel on which it's based, I'm Thinking Of Ending Things contains a third act revelation that recontextualizes every scene leading up to that moment.
Naturally, all this vaguery makes for a seriously confusing narrative that demands multiple viewings for those interested in making sense of the movie. A big question for many will be 'how much of the story was real?'. Kaufman doesn't actually make it all that easy to answer this seemingly straightforward question but that doesn't mean it's impossible to make things a little clearer. Here's what's real and what isn't in I'm Thinking Of Ending Things.
I'm Thinking Of Ending Things Mostly Takes Place Inside Jake's Head
Those who've read Reid's novel know that I'm Thinking Of Ending Things essentially chronicles the last thoughts of protagonist, Jake, as he prepares to 'end things' and commit suicide. In both the book and film, Jake is actually an elderly high school janitor who fantasizes about various parts of his life in the lead up to his grim demise. The road trip storyline is actually part of this fantasy and takes place entirely inside Jake's head. Interspersed throughout are scenes of the "real" Jake tending to his high school, but the majority of the film is a kind of waking dream unfolding in Jake's increasingly volatile mind.
That means Lucy (or Lucia/Louisa as she's referred to later in the Netflix horror movie) only exists in Jake's psyche – an idealized woman he's constructed using fleeting life experiences and the various books and movies that line the walls of his childhood room. There are clues to Lucy being a fantasy throughout, such as when she recognizes herself in a childhood photo of Jake, or when she discovers the same overalls worn by the janitor (aka older Jake) in the washer at Jake's parents' home. All these seemingly oblique developments are hinting at how the viewer is actually trapped in the crumbling psyche of Jake himself – who, in reality, is nearing the end of his life as a lowly janitor reflecting on a life of loneliness and regret.
The fantasy explains why Jake's parents appear at different ages throughout their visit. In this creepy thriller, Jake is ing his mother and father as they were at various stages of their life as he experiences a kind of crescendo of memory in which fragments of his mind play out an erratic final performance. In this way, I'm Thinking Of Ending Things is essentially a dark exploration of the whole "life flashing before your eyes" phenomenon, wherein Jake's life is revealed to be marked by severe loneliness and lack of fulfilment.
Which Scenes In I'm Thinking of Ending Things Are Definitely Real
The film opens with a short montage of various views on a home, which is later revealed to be Jake and his parents' farm house. The home appears empty and cold, suggesting these shots actually take place in present-day reality rather than in Jake's mind. Then, as Jake's fantasy begins, Charlie Kaufman's movie focuses on Lucy waiting on the curb to be picked up, before a brief shot reveals an elderly man looking out a window muttering. While it appears as though the man is standing at the window of an apartment overlooking where Lucy stands, this is actually the first glimpse of the "real" Jake – an old man shuffling around his empty home.
The film then cuts back and forth between Jake's actual life as a Janitor and the events unfolding in his mind. In reality, Jake is seen watching TV at the same table the fantasy version of himself and Lucy sit with Jake's parents later in the movie. He then leaves the house and can be seen throughout the film working at the school, watching young drama students rehearsing for a show, and generally leading an uneventful life. At one point he takes a break from his manual labor to watch a romantic movie – complete with Robert Zemeckis director credit – wherein a waitress is courted by an irer, and this premise actually makes its way into Jake's fantasy, with him telling his parents that Lucy is a waitress – just one of the many occupations his idealized version of a partner is given throughout.
Up to this point, knowing the eventual twist, it's fairly obvious what's real and what's fantasy: the janitor scenes are the present-day reality, and the road trip is all fantasy. But the final act, which plays out in the high school where the elderly Jake works, mixes memory, hallucination, and reality as Jake's mind stumbles towards its demise. It's therefore a lot harder to parse in of what's real and what isn't. In the fantasy, Lucy chases the younger Jake into the school, only to be confronted by the janitor – i.e. the "real" Jake. Here, it's unclear whether Jake is actually talking to the hallucination of Lucy or not but it appears he is at the school, finishing up his cleaning duties before retiring for the night.
The psychological thriller then launches into scenes that are both real and fantastical, as the elderly protagonist, still at the school, envisions his younger self taking part in a dream ballet in the gym. This sequence obviously isn't real, but soon after the elderly Jake returns to his truck outside the school, in a scene that appears to be based in reality. He then suffers a mental break while sitting in the car, removing his clothes as the freezing weather encroaches. As Jake finally succumbs to death sitting in the frozen truck, the audience is transported back into his mind. A series of grandiose fantasies begin to play out where Jake is led out of his car by a hallucinatory pig from his childhood farm, before the Jesse Plemons version of Jake delivers a rendition of “Lonely Room” from Oklahoma. During these scenes, Jake is actually still in his truck, and es away in the freezing car over night. The ballet, the musical performance, and the pig hallucination are all figments of his crumbling psyche, but the school does appear to be where Jake meets his very real end.
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The Real Story of Jake Meeting The Young Woman
Early in the Netflix horror movie, Jake and Lucy recount to Jake's parents how they met, revealing they were both at a trivia night and that Lucy asked Jake about his team name –Brezhnev’s Eyebrows – just to have an excuse to talk to him. But later, when Lucy meets the janitor – aka the real Jake – in the high school, she tell the story again and it's a much bleaker tale. In this moment, though Lucy herself remains a fantasy, the audience seems to be getting what might be the real story behind Jake and Lucy meeting – or, almost meeting.
In the updated version, Lucy tells how she and Jake were at a bar, but that they "never even talked" and that some "creeper" kept "looking at her" – the creeper being Jake. Lucy's story describes her relationship with Jake as "one of thousands of such non-interactions," suggesting the reality is that years ago Jake saw a girl at a bar, wanted to speak to her but didn't, and is now using his recollection of that girl's appearance as the idealized "Lucy" at the center of his pre-suicide fantasy in I'm Thinking of Ending Things. This moment reveals how Jake has longed for romance his entire life – hence his fantasizing of an elaborate, romantic ballet and his final musical performance from Oklahoma as the character Jud Fry – the lonely villain of the musical. While Lucy may not have been "real" her retelling of how Jake failed to talk to her years ago seems to be an accurate retelling of a time Jake clearly regrets.
