People who interpret this as the janitor blaming the real “Lucy” for the loneliness he’s endured his whole life have it completely wrong. This “Lucy” is part of the janitor - she is him. When she explodes and begins to say that Jake was looking at her weird, calling him a “creeper,” etc., this is the janitor finally acknowledging, through “Lucy”, that he never spoke to “Lucy” in real life, or even worse, that Lucy may have interpreted his silent staring as “creepy,” that she may have been frightened of him. So not only is the janitor finally accepting that he never had a girlfriend, that he was too scared to speak to the real “Lucy”, that he has led a lonely life bereft of affection or companionship, he is ALSO berating himself, telling himself that he could have feasibly scared the real “Lucy” away, that he was “creepy”, etc. He is being self-deprecating here. This is the saddest scene in the whole movie
I want to say Spoilers here if anyone hasn’t read the book: !!! I know this film is an adaptation, but in the book, you never learn “Lucy’s” name. In fact, she is does exist as a girl Jake did talk to and met at a bar during trivia with his friends, and he actually got her number! But you never learn her name because he never built up the courage to call her. This story is all in Jake’s mind, this thought at the end of his life, imagining through a missed connection what his life, and a trip to visit his parents could have been like. I know the “creeper” vibe helps speed the plot up in a film vs. a novel. But, she isn’t a victim, because “Lucy” exists in only Jake’s mind, wondering what could have been. His longing memory is there to keep him company while he contemplates the main title: I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
Interesting interpretation. Probaply the take I like best. However I recently started to believe that there is no correct way of interpreting things.There might be an authors intention but once they reliase his work it doesn´t really belong to him. Everyone will view their work with their own eyes and with a different perspective on things. I personally really like your interpretation and it speaks to me
I think he had known this all along. What he's acknowledging is not that it's been a fantasy, but that this fantasy has run its course, that it's useless and cannot really save him from his depression, loneliness and regret. These feelings have been trickling down into the illusion all the time. He couldn't imagine her as happy - even in his imagination she keeps on planning to leave him. She kept on receiving these calls on her phone. That's why young Jake aggressively lashes out at the janitor (his true self) for "peeking" when they're kissing in the car. He hates the janitor - himself - for indulging the illusion. So the fantasy is constantly breaking down. It's not sustainable, because he's unable to accept the substitute. And that's what he's coming to terms with, in my opinion. It's not an "oh my, so it was all just a dream" type of breakthrough.
Watching this scene and thinking of all the opportunities i've missed, people i've disappointed and ambitions failed was like an irl game over. Masterpiece.
@@fro_e Absolutely. It's a struggle but i'm better at it now than i've ever been - and i take comfort in knowing I will only improve. This film is a warning, not a prediction.
@@Garbageman28 Thats exactly the way I see it. I'm glad that there are similar likeminded people who have these sorts of fears. Makes me feel less alone.
Pretty sad. I take it that he never knew her. She was just a girl he was scoping out at a bar, but never approached. A girl he would always think back to time and time a again. In his last moments, he considers what if they talked and hit it off and became a couple. But even that "what if" doesn't work out. He lived on a farm. His parent's were a mess. He had to take care of his mother. He was just too busy, and perhaps in being honest with himself, too weird. It was never meant to be. As an old man, he gives the memory of her a hug goodbye. The chance of seeing her again was the only hope to hold onto. But alas, it was time to end things.
@@EstebanGunn I maladaptive daydream constantly, and almost always about girls. It's never from their POV, it's always from mine. It's very strange. Also, a janitor being well read and cultured is also strange.
@@cockoffgewgle4993 Well when you get older and you become more self aware, you might develop enough empathy to understand why someone would reject you. Also there are plenty of well read and cultured members of the working class. You just need more life experience.
@@EstebanGunn Empathy? You have empathy for people suffering. Not privileged people who have the luxury of being desired by strangers and rejecting them. And, judging by this interaction, she was a horrible, man-hating feminazi who deserved no "empathy". No, there aren't. And there's being working class and there's being a school janitor, about the lowest status job a man can have.
This movie really hit, this figment of his imagination is what so many of us do. Being infatuated by the idea of our fantasies, when in reality they’re our nightmare.
I think pretty much all of us do it, at least to an extent. And I don't think there's something inherently wrong with that either. It's a coping mechanism. I don't see the movie as a warning against resorting to coping mechanisms. It just highlights their limitations. You can't get true redemption that way, just like you can't cure cancer with positive thinking (it may help, but it's not a remedy). It's not that he would have been happier if he didn't escape into his fantasy. That's a comforting illusion in and of itself. Escaping into the fantasy was his defence. Ultimately, it failed. It might have been doomed to fail all along - there was no redemption, only painkiller pills, and one day you see that the jar is empty. To me this is more sad than a message of "don't obsess about what-ifs and you'll be fine".
the way she talks and her appearance (unkempt curly hair / big plastic earrings) sort of is more reminiscent of an older time, like the 60s-80s perhaps when he was the age that Jake is. Most young adults in current era don't speak the way she does in my opinion. If there weren't smartphones in this movie, the time period could be left up to interpretation and people would probably assume it does take place in the late 20th century.
I like how he puts a figment of this woman through the purgatory of his life's wants and regrets, seemingly blaming her for everything that happened after that moment. I think this is one of the most haunting scenes in a haunting film.
i don't think it ever seemed like she was being blamed for anything. the blame and thoughts of shame and unworthiness were always directed at himself, how he thought he was not capable of giving off a good impression even if he had the best of intentions and was not a bad guy.
such a strange but amazing movie i had so many questions and many theories but i believe the only real part of the movie or any part of the movie that is honest is this scene
Oh god. You're in your mid to late 20s. Lots of time to turn whatever is going on around. I'm in my 40s, how do you think this film made me feel? Just don't sit on things and you'll be fine.
The 20s are hardly the end of your life. I was a total mess in my 20s. I'm turning 43 tomorrow, so I can't speak out of full-life experience, but this had been the most difficult period for me so far. And by far. You're already expected to find your place in the world, you've got no excuses anymore, and you'll be failing. It is particularly difficult for "thinkers" (people who tend to ruminate over stuff) with a high sense of pride (which is a mixed blessing, because on one hand it prevents you from accepting easy answers and rationalizations - on the other it pushes you towards blaming yourself and becoming resentful).
@@vibovitold see that's the thing. I dont have anything that I could look back at in regret for not trying. There's nothing there. Looks like a long boring stretch until I die
they never dated she was just one of the many people that he had no relationship with just saw them in passing. he started to have day dreams about his relationship with this woman.
@@schmeeb7807 he killed her along with the girls in the ice cream shop . Back when he first started working as the janitor when he was younger , if you notice the way the girls that tried to warn Lucia were dressed versus how Lucia was dressed .
The truth is, yesterday doesn’t mean shit”, the past is dirt, move forward and people need to man up and stop drowning in their own self pity because nobody cares. Look after the self and focus on the now.
I want to say Spoilers, but please read this Book!!! Iain Reid did such a wonderful job of story telling: I know this is a film adaptation, and the visual imagery helped me a lot watching this movie. But, you will understand who “Lucy” actually is a lot more after the fact, even if you watched the movie first like I did.
No , he froze to death in the parking lot but he’s living in the last moments of Lucy/Lucia’s life when he murdered her . Same thing with the ice cream the girls tried to warn Lucy
