This week for Mubi Monday we take a look at the mundane tasks and goings on of office life. Is there more to it than getting doughnuts and being forced into meaningless conversations? Well, we’re about to find out. Let’s dive right in to…Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023).
Title: Sometimes I Think About Dying
Director: Rachel Lambert
Released: January 19, 2023 (Sundance Film Festival)
Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
Available to stream: Exclusively on Mubi
Fran (Daisy Ridley) is an introvert just trying to survive in an extrovert’s world. She works in an office in the Pacific Northwest, creating spreadsheets all day long. After each day, she goes home, eats some cottage cheese with a glass of wine, plays sudoku, and goes to bed. Lather, rinse, and repeat every day.
When she’s not creating her spreadsheets, Fran does her best to avoid the painful interactions that come with working in an office. Mindless small talk to pass the time, no thank you. Faking enthusiasm whenever someone brings in food for the office, thanks, but pass. Office celebrations for birthdays, retirements, etc., she’d rather not.
Instead, Fran adds some excitement to her day by imagining different scenarios of herself dying. Sometimes she’s covered in bugs, other times she’s lying dead in the forest or the beach, she even imagines herself hanging from the crane she can see from the office window at work.
All of this begins to change when a new employee, Robert (Dave Merheje), joins the office. Fran finds herself willing to let down some walls a bit with Robert. They go to the movies together, go out to eat, and even attend a social gathering together.
While Fran begins opening up a bit, will it only be a matter of time before she finds herself shutting Robert out of her life?
Conversely, will the time spent with Robert occupy enough space in her mind to where she stops thinking about dying?
Every now and then you find yourself watching a movie where you find yourself relating to a character. This was the case for me with Fran as she struggles to fabricate any sort of excitement/enjoyment in the office. So right away, I was hooked and along for the ride with Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023).
What I really enjoyed is that we never get a full understanding of anyone.
Has Fran always been this way? How has Robert never held a job before?
There’s a lot that goes unanswered, however, this isn’t an instance where I was left frustrated for not knowing. Rather, the things left unsaid complement each character and their persona. A bit of mystery behind everyone and their motive plays into the mundane banality of office life that Fran struggles with.
Daisy Ridley is phenomenal as Fran. Yes, Fran is an incredibly quirky character. However, Ridley leans into it without overdoing it. This results in us getting a believably introverted quirky enigma. One who manages to hold our attention for a full twenty-two minutes before we even hear he speak.
If you have yet to see Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), I’m recommending you give it at least one viewing.
In fact, here’s a month of Mubi for free so you can do so.
Now, if you have seen Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023), I want to hear your thoughts on it.
Let me hear it in the comments below or by reaching out on social media!
As always, you can keep up with everything else that I’ve been watching over on my Letterboxd account.