Plot Summary

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself is a darkly humorous and quietly devastating character study that explores loneliness, emotional paralysis, and the fragile ways people learn to survive life.

After the death of their father, Wilbur (Jamie Sives) and his older brother Harbour (Adrian Rawlins) inherit a second-hand bookshop in Glasgow. Harbour is gentle, responsible, and quietly self-sacrificing, while Wilbur is openly cynical and repeatedly attempts suicide with almost casual indifference. Following yet another failed attempt, Wilbur is hospitalized, where he encounters the sardonic psychologist Horst (Mads Mikkelsen) and the compassionate head nurse Maria. Like Harbour, they believe Wilbur’s despair might stem from his inability to connect emotionally—particularly with women.

Wilbur’s life begins to shift when Alice (Shirley Henderson) and her young daughter move into the apartment above the bookshop. Slowly, an unconventional bond forms among Wilbur, Harbour, Alice, and the child, creating a fragile sense of family. Through Alice’s quiet resilience and unspoken pain, Wilbur begins to rediscover a desire to live, while Alice herself finds the strength to emerge from long-contained grief.

Yet as Wilbur’s will to live strengthens, the emotional balance within the group begins to change. Harbour, who has quietly devoted his life to caring for others, appears happier than ever—but beneath his calm exterior lies a deeply buried secret that threatens to undo everything they have built together.

Balancing bleak subject matter with understated wit, Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself offers a tender meditation on love, sacrifice, and the unspoken costs of emotional endurance, revealing how survival sometimes comes not from grand gestures, but from the simplest human connections.