The sort of person who usually goes unnoticed is steered fascinatingly to the fore in this carefully crafted tale of social anxiety, isolation and suicidal impulses from director Rachel Lambert and writers Kevin Armento, Stefanie Abel Horowitz and Katy Wright-Mead. Given that she’s the ‘chosen one’ from the Star Wars saga, known for kicking arse and vexing fanboys, Daisy Ridley might seem an unusual choice for the wallflower in question, but she turns in an exquisitely judged, strikingly plausible performance.  

Based on the 2013 play Killers by Armento and a 2019 short, Sometimes I Think About Dying unfolds in a small Oregon coastal town, with the camera lovingly lapping up this cool and serene setting. It focuses on Fran (Ridley), a young woman unobtrusively inhabiting the background of life, like a non-playable character in a video game. Although she says painfully little, we get into our lead’s head which is plagued by daydreams of her own death, presented as peaceful, escapist tableaux.

Working as an office administrator, it’s a role she quietly excels at, and the film is brilliant at capturing the awkwardness of Fran’s interactions with co-workers, as she struggles to speak up, or surreptitiously exits a birthday celebration; meanwhile the team bonding, led by ‘zany’ boss Isobel (the excellent Megan Stalter from Hacks), is cringeworthily convincing. When affable new colleague Robert (Dave Merheje) shows an interest in befriending or perhaps even dating Fran, his efforts are enough to coax her out of her shell.

This is American independent filmmaking of the highest order. The static lensing and meticulously composed shots (cinematographer Dustin Lane deserves huge credit) direct us to tiny, delicate details and find beauty and poignancy in the prosaic. This strategy works wonderfully considering that Fran gives so little away; we’re encouraged to look closer, with Ridley’s knack for relaying feelings through microscopic emoting and subtle gestures impressive. 

Although a gentle melancholy pervades, Lambert and co find as much time for hope as they do for sadness. The film revels in simple pleasures that Fran enjoys, like how good she is at her job, or savouring some cottage cheese and a glass of wine in her apartment after work. Black humour is thrown in too; during a murder-mystery role playing game with strangers (a terrifying social situation if there ever was one), our central character’s obsession with death comes in handy.

On one hand playing out like a romcom for depressives, Sometimes I Think About Dying is also a sensitive and very artful look at shyness and living with intrusive thoughts, and captures what a colossal risk it can be to put yourself out there. It’s not in the film’s nature to fix Fran or explain her behaviour to us and she remains a tough person to get to know, however hard Robert tries. Yet as we watch this unlikely heroine taking small but significant steps, it seems like a connection could well be on the cards.
Sometimes I Think About Dying is in cinemas from Friday 19 April.