The first two thirds of I'm Thinking of Ending Things is pure mystery.
We've got the world's freakiest ice cream shop, a dog that won't stop shaking, and a
main character played by a familiar-faced actor we know we've seen ... somewhere.
Irish actor Jessie Buckley has been earning amazing notices for her incredible performance
in Charlie Kaufman's latest cinematic puzzle.
Strange, intense, and vulnerable, the girlfriend in I'm Thinking of Ending Things is the kind
of role that would force most actors to stretch their talents to the limit.
But Buckley makes it look easy, jumping from scene to scene with the kind of confidence
that simply erases the line between performer and performance.
So by now you're probably asking: just where is it that we've seen Jessie Buckley before?
Televised singing and talent competitions were all the rage in 2008, but the BBC's I'd
Do Anything brought a unique, highbrow spin to the formula.
Hosted by Graham Norton and overseen by none other than living musical theater deity Andrew
Lloyd Webber, I'd Do Anything saw young female contestants compete for the role of Nancy
in a future production of Oliver!.
At just 18 years old, Ireland's Jessie Buckley was the second-youngest contestant featured
in her group.
Over 11 grueling weeks, Buckley demonstrated an incredible command of a wide repertoire
of musical theater classics, including a memorably chilling rendition of "As Long as He Needs
Me."
Jessie lost out to an experienced singer and actor 10 years her senior, but the experience
was still very much a victory, as far as her career was concerned.
Before the year was out, Buckley appeared in the West End revival of Stephen Sondheim's
A Little Night Music.
A run of successful stage appearances would follow in the years to come, as well as a
rapidly expanding career in film and television.
Jessie Buckley brought her stage chops to the small screen in the BBC's 2016 dramatization
of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, playing the part of Maria.
Just in case you're a little rusty when it comes to the old Russian epics, Maria is a
super religious princess who forgoes marriage, instead living with and supporting her domineering
father.
"Indeed I am.
I'm petrified of your father.
He's so fierce."
"He's a quick temper."
Various calamities and successes befall Maria, as they do in Russian literature, but the
text gives us a clue as to why Buckley was chosen to bring Maria to the screen.
Tolstoy wrote that Maria had a face "transfigured by beautiful eyes," and indeed Buckley is
known for her ability to project incredible emotion through a look - a technique perfected
through years of stage acting.
2017 saw Buckley appearing in the BBC series Taboo, alongside an ensemble cast including
Hollywood heavyweight Tom Hardy.
Two more BBC credits followed in 2017's The Last Post and The Woman in White.
The latter, a miniseries adaptation of the 1860 gothic novel of the same name, is a creepy
tale about an eccentric young woman who insists on dressing in all white.
The low-simmering horror vibes were a new kind of credit for Buckley's resume, and a
hint at new roles to come.
It's not just any actor who can bounce from TV singing competition to the marquee name
in a deranged serial killer whodunnit, but Jessie Buckley did just that in 2017's Beast.
Her character, Moll, becomes romantically tied to a suspect in a series of brutal murders
of women in the island of Jersey.
Unsettling to the extreme, Beast examines themes of mistaken identity, hidden rage,
and social alienation, in a psychological thriller that shows Buckley has what it takes
for mind-bending fare such as I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
"To my family: For everything you've done for me...
I forgive you."
2019 saw a return to Buckley's musical roots, when she appeared as the lead in Wild Rose
- a country music character study pulled straight from the genre's outlaw past.
The star-is-born flick sits at a killer 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site describing
the role as a "transcendent moment for lead Jessie Buckley."
Buckley delivered the lead vocal performance for 16 of the soundtrack's 20 original songs
and covers, proving she still had the skills that won the hearts of millions on I'd Do
Anything.
"Why haven't you gone in for one of those TV talent shows?"
"They're not for folk who can sing.
Those programs are for folk who want to sit in on a Saturday night and watch the TV."
Even if you weren't alive during the disaster that was the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown,
chances are you caught the dramatization of the same in 2019 on HBO.
Acclaimed for its poignant portrayal of the destructive power of bias and denialism, the
show recreated a time in history when the mistakes of a few threatened to wipe out life
on Earth.
Fortunately, society is still here to tell the tale.
In HBO's retelling of events, Jessie Buckley landed the role of a real-life wife to a Chernobyl
first responder.
On screen, as in reality, her husband arrives at the disaster before anyone understands
how truly catastrophic the accident really is.
In the days that follow, his health completely collapses due to acute radiation exposure,
and he dies in agony two weeks after the initial crisis.
Buckley's character has a front row seat for her husband's ordeal, giving the audience
a stark image of the human devastation that can result from scientific hubris.
Tragic themes aside, Buckley made an impression on millions of new fans in HBO's primetime
Monday slot, the day after the Sunday night juggernaut that was Game of Thrones.
Not one to ever leave musical theater behind completely, Jessie Buckley played Rosalyn
Wilder, assistant to the incomparable Judy Garland, in the 2019 biopic Judy.
However, the Judy on display wasn't the young star who lit up the screen as Dorothy in The
Wizard of Oz, but instead the Garland who struggled with addiction while making her
way through her final performances.
Though Garland's story is now one of the entertainment industry's great cautionary tales, Hollywood
tragedies often make box office gold.
Judy more than quadrupled its reported $10 million production budget in global ticket
sales, and Jessie Buckley got yet another high-profile credit.
"My mouth is dry.
And it could fall apart."
"Listen to me."
"I can't."
"You'll be fine."
So now that you know where you've seen Buckley before, there's only one thing left to do:
watch I'm Thinking of Ending Things so you can take in her performance -- or watch it
a second time to remind yourself of what makes her so special.
Thanks for watching.
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