SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING - Mark Reviews Movies

Sometimes I Think About Dying, Oscilloscope Laboratories

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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 25, 2024

Poor Fran (Daisy Ridley) is just sad and lonely. By day, she works at an office where no one really speaks to her, she avoids talking to anyone, and the woman sits in her cubicle or hovers around doorways like a silent ghost. After work, Fran stays in her house, sticking to a set routine of dinner, doing puzzles, and going to bed at a reasonable hour. Sometimes I Think About Dying suggests the only mild thrill of the character's life comes from the moments suggested by the title.

Director Rachel Lambert's movie does a fine enough job putting us into the life and mindset of this woman, whose life doesn't amount to much and whose mindset is almost too comfortable with that fact. The screenplay—shockingly, for as little as there is to the story, written by three people, namely Stefanie Abel Horowtz, Kevin Armento, and Katy Wright-Mead—forgets or fails to answer one important question, though. What actually makes this character interesting?

It can't just be her dreams and visions of being dead, can it? That seems to be the case here, because it's impossible to note any detail about her current or past life that suggests she has much of a present or a history that means much. The story even puts her silence and refusal to say anything about herself to the test, and maybe the ultimate point is that Fran passes that test quite easily. She doesn't say a thing of importance about herself until the final minutes of the movie, and even that is the one thing we already know as soon as the title appear on screen.

There is a little nuance to her statement, of course, because it's not just that finally voices the notion. It's also the context in which she says it that matters, but it feels like a start for both the story and the character that only comes right at end. The movie becomes a character study about a character who doesn't have much to study.

Instead, the tale meanders in circles, which is at least appropriate in reflecting who Fran is and what she does. Most of her day is spent sitting—in front of a computer at her job, working on spreadsheets for some unspecified business, and on the couch at home, staring at a book of puzzles as a muted television flashes unwatched images in front of her. Whenever a co-worker shows up at Fran's cubicle to talk to her, it's a shock. She's startled in a way that suggests she's almost surprised by the fact of her own existence. After all, some part of her day is spent imagining what it would be like to be dead on a forest floor or amidst a pile of wood on the beach.

Nobody at the office knows anything about her, but in a place where small talk sometimes carries over to Fran's work space as a whisper, it's not as if any of her fellow employees really know much about each other, anyway. A card for a retiring employee is passed around the office, and Fran's wish that she has a happy retirement is only a little less empty a sentiment as the other notes. A meeting has the team answering some ice-breaker questions, and the most Fran can offer is that her favorite food is cottage cheese. If not for the fact that Ridley is so inherently sympathetic in how she can hint at some hidden spark of sincerity and longing behind the blank slate of Fran's character, we might wonder if that really is all there is to this character.

The possible turning point arrives quickly. The retired worker is soon replaced by Robert (Dave Merheje), who is talkative and personable and loves movies more than anything else. The two exchange some emails about office supplies, with him trying to inject some humor and her keeping the conversation succinct, and soon enough, Robert invites Fran to join him for a movie at the local theater. She agrees.

They talk outside, at a neighboring diner, in the office in the ensuing days, at his house, and at a party being hosted by one of the restaurant's servers. Well, he does most of the talking—about movies and previously living in the city and what he wants to do with his new house and wanting to get away to a quieter place for some personal reasons. Robert keeps pressing Fran to open up about anything about herself, her hobbies and passions, and her past, but all Fran can muster that is neither she nor any of that stuff is interesting. It's believable—but maybe too much so for any real drama or insight to emerge here.

The general mood of isolation, even amongst other people, is undeniably strong in Sometimes I Think About Dying, and Ridley's performance brings flashes of pathos to the character, especially in the movie's final stretch. It simply doesn't have much to say beyond what's right there from the beginning.

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