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I’m thinking of ending things,” Jessie Buckley’s protagonist utters internally. It’s not the only time she’ll say-think it. Her inner monologue narrates chunks of Charlie Kaufman’s bizarre, funny, gripping, disquieting movie. When she next thinks it, her boyfriend, Jake (Jesse Plemons), reacts as if he’s heard. It’s the first of what’ll be many signs that all might not be quite as it seems.

An awkward know-it-all she met at a quiz, Jake’s taking her to meet his parents (Toni Collette, David Thewlis) at their farm. This excruciating visit will set alarm bells clanging: unease is cranked up from the off. It’s another terrific showcase for Buckley after Beast and Wild Rose, and she’s matched by Plemons, Collette and Thewlis in a kinda four-hander.

Given that leans further into almost-horror than and , but never risks conventionality; ever-present are Kaufman’s trademark metaphysical and metatextual layers, and his uniquely lacerating humour; it’s a Lynchian spin on the awkward-dinner-party subgenre.