Daisy Ridley is contemplating death. Well, not actual death — but the escape from the mundanities of corporate office culture because, really, aren’t we all?
The “Star Wars” actress leads the indie “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” which debuted at Sundance 2023. In the film, Ridley plays Fran, a woman who daydreams while at work and thinks about interesting ways to die. When a new coworker (Dave Merheje) tries to connect with her, though, Fran realizes there is more to life than its inevitable fatal end. Meg Stalter, Parvesh Cheena, Marcia DeBonis, and Brittany O’Grady round out the cast.
Director Rachel Lambert helms her sophomore feature, following her debut film “In the Radiant City,” which was produced by Jeff Nichols. Lead actress Ridley also serves as a producer on “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” along with fellow producers Alex Saks, Dori Rath, Lauren Beveridge, and Brett Beveridge. The film was written by Kevin Armento, Katy Wright-Mead, and Stefanie Abel Horowitz, who directed the original short film the feature is based on.
Actress/producer Ridley told IndieWire while at Sundance that she deeply connected to the script, especially her character Fran. “No matter how many times I read the script before we did it, I always cried at the end. … I felt not just the relatability but I felt so much sympathy with the character,” Ridley said. “I felt a lot of sympathy for her in that space, and also within the office, like, people are just living their lives. You can’t have judgment on the people who are good at it because they’re just doing their own thing.”
The IndieWire review noted that “when we laugh in ‘Sometimes I Think About Dying,’ it’s never at Fran. That also feels big,” with critic Kate Erbland adding, “Ridley’s game spirit never fully fades. There’s that deep affection for Fran: Even as we’re watching her at her lowest point, [director] Lambert stealthily reveals more of her world, like a healthy and happy assortment of plants dotting her apartment. They want to live, and Fran helped them to do that. Can she do the same for herself?”
“Sometimes I Think About Dying” hit theaters on Friday, January 26 from Oscilloscope Laboratories. Check out the trailer below.
