I’m Thinking Of Ending Things: 10 Best Quotes

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things is Charlie Kaufman’s most recent project, a Netflix film he both adapted for the screen from a novel and directed. It stars Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons, along with Toni Collette, and Kaufman’s previous collaborator David Thewlis. Like Kaufman’s other films, this one tampers with time and identity in similarly unsettling ways.

Plemons’ character, Jake, is taking his girlfriend to meet his parents for the first time, but she is considering ending their relationship. However, as the film progresses, the meaning of this phrase changes. In fact, everything about the characters changes, including their names and professions.

10 “I’m Thinking Of Ending Things.”

This is the quote that opens the film and gives it its title. It’s haunting, mysterious, cryptic, and a little disturbing. At first, one may think that she’s referring to her relationship with Jake, but as the film goes on, it suggests that she’s referring to something else.

In fact, by the end of the film, it could be interpreted that this character doesn’t even exist. Her name keeps on changing as Jake’s idea of the ideal woman evolves. The end of the film suggests that it’s Jake, the janitor, who wishes to end things – and by this, he means to end his life.

9 “You Can Say Anything, You Can Do Anything, But You Can’t Fake A Thought.”

In the opening montage, which is made up of shots of Jake’s parents’ house, Lucy gives a rather drawn-out soliloquy. Here, she recalls something that Jake once told her.

“Sometimes a thought is closer to the truth, to reality, than an action.” Of course, much of the film is rooted in Lucy’s thoughts, specifically her thoughts about wanting to end things. And almost every time she has this thought, it’s almost as though Jake hears her. Again, this hints that the thought really belongs to Jake and that Lucy doesn’t really exist.

8 “Anyway, I Just Know A Few Musicals …”

As the couple drives to the house, they discuss many things. Jake turns on the radio and Lucy remarks that the song is “odd.” Jake laughs and tells her it’s from the musical, Oklahoma.

Lucy is surprised; she says that she didn’t take him for a fan of musicals. He replies that he’s not, really, and that he only knows a few musicals. He proceeds to rattle off the titles of 19 musicals.

7 “It’s Good To Remind Yourself The World Is Larger Than The Inside Of Your Own Head.”

As they drive, the couple comments that their little road trip is nice, as is the idea of their upcoming dinner. Jake says, “It’s good to remind yourself the world is larger than the inside of your own head.”

Like the other quotes in the movie, this one reveals the themes of the story. One interpretation of the film is that everything viewers see is actually taking place inside Jake’s own head. He has invented Lucy, and perhaps even modified the younger version of himself he recalls, as he contemplates “ending things.”

6 “Other Animals Live In The Present. Humans Cannot, So They Invented Hope.”

At this point, Jake is showing his girlfriend the barn. She asks him what will happen to the dead lambs, so he tells her the disturbing story. As they leave, she reflects on the “inevitability of death.”

“Everything has to die. That’s the truth. One likes to think that there is always hope,” she says, possibly reflecting the janitor’s suicidal thoughts. “It’s a uniquely human fantasy that things will get better, born perhaps of the uniquely human understanding that things will not.”

5 “It’s Tragic How Few People Possess Their Souls Before They Die.”

This is one of the many occasions in the film where the characters quote someone else, most often a famous literary or pop culture figure. In this case, Lucy/Lucia/Lousia/Yvonne is quoting Oscar Wilde.

The full quote, from The Complete Letters Of Oscar Wilde, is as follows: “‘Nothing is more rare in any man’, says Emerson, ‘than an act of his own.’ It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

4 “People Like To Think Of Themselves As Points Moving Through Time, But I Think It’s Probably The Opposite.”

As the film gets right to the heart of its message, the young woman reflects on everything that has happened, particularly the visit to Jake’s parents. During the course of the evening, she realizes that she has seen them “as they will be” and “as they have been.”

She narrates, “We’re stationary and time passes through us, blowing like cold wind, stealing our heat, leaving us chapped and frozen.” She continues, saying that she felt like that cold wind as she passed through Jake’s parents.

3 “Seems. That’s The Operative Word. Time’s Another Thing That Exists Only In The Brain.”

The couple is driving to the school where, supposedly, Jake attended as a teenager. However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is the school where he works as a janitor.

Jake says something about how color only exists in the brain. The woman, now claiming to be a physicist, agrees that it’s just “the deeds of light …” Then, frustrated, she exclaims that the road seems to be endless, to which Jake replies with the above.

2 “Youth Is Admirable? How Can You Admire A Person For Their Age? It’s Like Admiring A Certain Point In A Stream.”

Later in their meandering conversation about age, Jake expresses his desire to be young again – only it’s probably the janitor’s thought speaking through this specter of Jake. He comments that youth is more attractive, and even scientific studies support that belief.

His girlfriend thinks he’s being silly. Not long after recovering from her impersonation of Pauline Kael, she scoffs, “Youth is admirable? How can you admire someone for their age? It’s like admiring a certain point in a stream.” Again, this calls back to her idea that time passes through people like wind.

1 “The Occupational Hazard Of Being A Female – You Can’t Even Go For A Drink, Always Being Looked At.”

Towards the end of the film, the woman is speaking with the janitor in the school hallway. She asks him if he’s seen Jake, but when he asks her to describe him, she can’t. She says it was so long ago that she can’t remember, that they never even really talked.

She implies that she was on a date with her girlfriend and “this guy kept looking at [her].” Describing it as a nuisance, she continues, “I remember thinking, ‘I wish my boyfriend was here’ … That’s sort of sad, that being a woman the only way a guy leaves you alone is if you’re with another guy …”

About The Author

Svetlana Sterlin
(256 Articles Published)

After years of relocation, Svetlana Sterlin (she/her) was raised by her Russian parents in Brisbane, Australia, where she completed a BFA and contributes to ScreenRant and Our Culture Magazine. An avid cinephile and bookworm, Svetlana also writes creatively across multiple forms and genres. Her fiction and poetry appear in several printed and digital publications. Find more from Svetlana here: https://linktr.ee/svetlanasterlin.

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