Charlie Kaufman’s surrealist psychological thriller, I’m Thinking of Ending Things (an adaptation of Iain Reid’s novel of the same name), is a hurricane of confusing thoughts and insanity. Kaufman isn’t one to back down from a challenge as a writer. Despite the unconventional methods in every Charlie Kaufman movie, his sheer ability has been triumphantly proven several times.

Kaufman has become an industry leader and has written and directed several memorable films. Most recently, I’m Thinking of Ending Things has audiences and critics alike absolutely mind-blown, which is appropriate for its exploration of mental health. So let’s see how this movie tackles mental health conditions.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things follows a young couple who go on vacation to a farmhouse during a snowstorm. Jake’s parents will meet Lucy for the first time when he brings her along. They converse about their new relationship, poetry, and human loneliness as they make their way to their location. In a voiceover narration, we hear Lucy’s internal thoughts, which are eventually interrupted by Jake. These are the initial moments when we know that we are about to embark on yet another bizarre journey inside Charlie Kaufman’s mind, with the help of the movie’s stellar cast including Jesse Plemons and Jessie Buckley.

Fragility of the Human Spirit

As it has been described, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is ultimately an interpretation of depression and regret. While the phrase “I’m thinking of ending things” sounds like a suicidal thought in itself, repeated disorder and confusion in Kaufman’s work is used to convey the fear of attachment with another person, and the title can be about a break-up or the end of a perspective.

Related: These Are Jesse Plemons’ Best Performances, Ranked

The movie challenges the chaos within the human mind and spirit, multiple personalities and contradictory thoughts between the self and mind. It represents when one is not stable or secure, which leaves the audience confused, yet sympathetic. The movie perfectly captures what it’s like to have anxiety, leaving viewers with an insight into the struggles of mental health conditions and the symptoms that those suffering from them may feel.

The internal monologue of Jake’s girlfriend, our narrator, is both frightening and intriguing. She serves as a reminder of the distance that exists between our innermost selves and the people we cherish most, and that our physical body can never connect. Anxiety-inducing thoughts are perfectly captured in this movie, while discussing mental illness and its impact on family members, and focuses on how it is handed down from generation to generation.

Psychological Messages

There is a heavy psychological weight within the movie, portrayed in the car, in the snow, on a remote farmhouse, and in the mind. The gaps between the self we want to be and the self we project onto others reside in the spaces of our worst traumas and fears. Throughout the surreal film, in its own sense, the snowstorm is a significant character, functioning as a metaphor for the ways in which your mind may detach you, tighten its grip on you, as well as for the darkness and coldness that surround you when suffering with mental health conditions.

While driving, we see our narrator and his girlfriend espousing contrasting and contradictory views on Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, science and philosophy, all in a chaotic manner, only adding suspense to the anxiety we have been preoccupied with since the beginning of the film.

Related: These Are Jessie Buckley’s Best Performances, Ranked

Another symbol of mental health disorders in the film is the recurrent grotesque picture of a pig, which appears several times throughout the film. Throughout the film, the pig is seen to be devoured by maggots, which is something that the characters continually emphasize. The portrayal behind the image is that of a traumatic episode that occurred during the janitor’s boyhood, and it will reflect his deteriorating mental state in the future.

Despite his apparent happiness and health, the guy has spent his life being slowly eaten away by sadness, anxiety, and crushing misery; he is that pig with a rotten underbelly that no one wants to see, but no one can help but notice when it happens. As the janitor (probably) himself dies by suicide in the last moments, the ghostly cartoon pig assists him in coming to terms with the truth that his life had been so wretched; his life had been a bad dice throw, with no deeper importance to his suffering.

Read Next

About The Author