Near the end of the film, after Jake and the young woman arrive at the high school and she wanders the corridors, “outside a classroom, Wadley's music gradually [comes] to the forefront, as two doppelgängers… thus begins the ballet.” The piece describes this as a full choreographed sequence with dancers representing Jake, the woman, and the janitor, and notes that “the ballet at the end of Charlie Kaufman's Netflix feature is the key” to understanding the conclusion, indicating it is an extended, surreal dance passage rather than a brief insert.

Towards the end of the film, the main narrative and the janitor’s storyline converge at the high school. The woman discovers Jake at the end of a hall. They watch as people dressed like themselves and the janitor engage in dream ballet, which ends when the janitor's dancer kills Jake's dancer with a knife.

Discussing Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation, the review notes that references to the musical *Oklahoma!* become increasingly intrusive in the characters’ journey, "up to and including a version of the iconic ‘dream ballet’ sequence completely replacing the novel’s original, violent ending." The piece explicitly describes this dream ballet sequence as the film’s new climactic ending set in the high school, in place of the book’s violent finale.

Describing the film’s ending, the review notes that “after the girlfriend gives this confession, the janitor/Jake finally comes to terms with himself, which is indicated by the sad smile the janitor gives to the girlfriend before Kaufman transitions to a beautifully choreographed ballet scene.” It explains that “more attractive-looking versions of Jake and the girlfriend begin engaging in a ballet,” with another dancer dressed as the janitor intervening, leading to a fight and stabbing, and calls this ballet “symbolized by a ballet sequence that follows the girlfriend’s confession,” underlining that it is a long, choreographed, surreal extension of the high school storyline.

In the midst of wondering who she is, if Jake can hear her thoughts, and what is real and what is not, there’s an Oklahoma!-inspired dance scene, choreographed by New York City Ballet soloist Peter Walker and performed by fellow soloist Unity Phelan and Broadway vet Ryan Steele. “At face value, it’s a lovely dream ballet sequence,” says Walker. “But there’s a lot of character layers and interactions that are specific and directed that I almost hesitate to talk about, because so much of the film, especially the end, is meant to be left up for interpretation.”

The final 20 minutes of I'm Thinking of Ending Things turn the abstractness up to 11. Jake and The Young Woman meet and are replaced by lookalikes. These lookalikes perform a dream ballet that shows their loving relationship, then marriage, and their wedded bliss is eventually interrupted by a janitor lookalike who fights with lookalike Jake and kills him.

A detailed explanation of the movie’s structure notes that “the ride home from the farm… ends at a high school and involves an animated talking/rotting pig and a musical number cribbed from Oklahoma!” It describes the ending as where “Jake… is the janitor in the school and he has a final devastating break with reality,” framing the high school portion as the locus for the film’s most surreal elements, including a staged musical/ballet sequence.

For I'm Thinking, he opts for a mix of electronic and original orchestral music, and a stand-out moment is the ballet scene in the finale. Wadley has penned a Stravinsky-esque original score to soundtrack the high school lockers-edged ballet solo. New York Ballet’s Peter Walker choreographed the scene and described it as an unexpected – but ultimately necessary – release of tension the winding film has created up until that point.

It will all culminate into a convergence at the high school where the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” – in particular a poignant usage of “Lonely Room” and an Agnes de Mille-like dream ballet will serve as the climax. Both the film and the movie share the same grand design: the events of the story are a fabricated, fictional universe the protagonist, a failed man preparing to “end things,” lives inside and has created as a coping mechanism.

Then when we decided there was going to be more score in the editing process, we had to chop up the ballet and make it this sort of fever dream-ish, memory piece. Parts of the ballet and the jingle are reversed and stretched out, and there's all these various layers of references to other parts of the score that are kind of coming together and synthesising into this crazy fever dream of a piece. ... the jingle is sort of the real pivotal point that transitions us into this hallucinogenic sequence that leads us to the end... all the while keeping elements of the ballet.

To the gentle opening tunes of harp and flute, **the two dancers set out not only to embody the more flawless and adorable versions of Jake and the Young Woman, but also to reaffirm the traditional gender roles and balances they are caught in.** …They suddenly find themselves **caught up in a version of the Ballet from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s *Oklahoma!* (1943)**. Kaufman’s ballet is staged in **the school’s corridor**, with lockers lining the walls, creating a claustrophobic and uncanny environment for what is traditionally a pastoral fantasy sequence.

The review notes that the film’s structure is built around a trip to a farmhouse and a difficult return journey, with the narrative serving as “the skeleton on which Kaufman hangs arguably his most challenging film to date, a piece that verges on Lynchian in its surreal register.” It observes that “the trip to a remote farmhouse is just the narrative skeleton,” implying that later sequences, including those at the high school, take on an increasingly surreal, dreamlike quality characteristic of Kaufman’s adaptation.

Lucy is an idea, based on a waitress who served him once. ... I think the dance is a pretty big deal. It's a perfect romance, idealized love between girl and boy. Then janitor comes in, crushing reality. In the end the fantasy and the crushing reality clash and reality wins, where we see the young woman go away never to appear again and he himself decides he's had enough of daydreaming...

This scene is part of the Netflix‑produced movie **"I'm Thinking of Ending Things" written and directed by Charlie Kaufman.** The video shows **the extended surreal ballet sequence taking place in the high school corridors and auditorium**, with dancers portraying Jake, the Young Woman, and the Janitor in a stylized dream ballet that culminates in a violent, symbolic confrontation.

A Facebook viewer reaction post says: "Just watched 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things.' While I can't recommend sitting through the whole thing, this dance scene was amazing." The comment refers to the prominent choreographed dance near the end of the film, reflecting audience perception of the surreal high school ballet sequence as a major, extended part of the movie’s conclusion.

General plot descriptions for the film state that the story culminates in increasingly surreal events after the couple’s visit to Jake’s parents, with the trip home ultimately leading to the high school. While brief, they note the film’s genre as a “surrealist psychological thriller,” signaling that the later sequences, including those set at the school, employ stylized, non‑realistic devices such as choreographed dance or musical numbers.

Composer Jay Wadley breaks down his creative process and what it was like to work with Charlie Kaufman on the score of I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS. He discusses the "Dream Ballet" cue for the high school sequence near the end, describing how the music underscores the surreal, extended dance that climaxes the film.

In the film’s finale, after the couple arrive at Jake’s old high school, the realistic action gives way to an extended, surreal dream ballet representing Jake and the Young Woman. This ballet plays out in the school corridors and gym, effectively transforming the high school sequence into a long, stylised dance set-piece.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a psychological drama by Charlie Kaufman. It follows a young woman, played by Jessie Buckley, as she goes on a journey with her boyfriend Jake, leading eventually to **a surreal dance and ballet sequence in a high school** that visually represents Jake’s internal world and emotional crisis.

Excited to share this two-piano arrangement of my “Dream Ballet” cue from Charlie Kaufman's I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS. The cue is used for the extended dream ballet sequence set in the high school at the end of the film.