Синонимы наделали немало шума на Берлинском кинофестивале, забрав не только статуэтку медведя, но и хвалебные отзывы воротил киноиндустрии. И если вы незнакомы с фестивальным кино, то Синонимы станут для вас тем тяжёлым опытом (не в плане эмоций, а скорее в плане тягучести происходящего), через который должен пройти каждый киноман. Если же медленные, меланхоличные фестивальные картины вызывают у вас живой интерес, то ваши ожидания будут окуплены сполна! Но что кроется за пластилиновым лицом главного героя, и где тонкая грань между глубоким подтекстом и пошлой шелухой? Вот тут действительно есть повод серьезно задуматься…
По сюжету молодой недавно демобилизованный израильтянин Йоав оставляет ненавистную Родину и сбегает в зимний Париж в поисках новой жизни. Йоав заселяется в большую брошенную кем-то неотапливаемую квартиру, где во время «банных процедур», становится жертвой ограбления, фактически потеряв все вещи вплоть до трусов. Голого и замерзшего иммигранта, потерявшего сознание от переохлаждения, находят соседи – молодая богемная французская пара: сын бизнесмена, начинающий писатель Эмиль и его подруга Каролина, играющая в академическом оркестре на фаготе. Снабдив нового знакомого пачкой евро, пакетом модных вещей, новым айфоном и кричащим желтым плащом от Kenzo, французы открывают для Йоава двери в суровую французскую действительность. Ну и следующие 2 часа мы будем следить за тем, как Йоав натужно и не всегда успешно пытается изжить из себя израильтянина. Молодой человек готов отринуть родной иврит, что заставляет его на протяжении фильма штудировать французский словарь, подбирая все новые и новые синонимы к вновь изученным словам…
Синонимы по сути своей являются не смешным памфлетом на современную Европу, где Франция всего лишь место действия, перенеся которое в любую другую столицу евросоюзной страны, не удастся изменить контекст повествования. Йоав умирает и рождается вновь, когда отдает последнее, что у него есть (пирсинг) своим спасителям как плату за пропуск в новую жизнь.
Картина поднимает много моральных вопросов на тему бытия человека, отказавшегося от своей Родины, семьи, и даже истории, ведь наивный Йоав, не имея ничего за душой, готов отдать Эмилю истории из своей жизни в обмен на дружбу.
Романтизирующий Эмиль и похотливая Каролина становятся для израильтянина новой семьей, вот только внимательный зритель быстро увидит, что отношения молодых людей продиктовано исключительно экзотическим (для современного европейца беженцы должно быть реально так выглядят) происхождением нового знакомца, и как у любого избалованного ребенка рано или поздно интерес к новой игрушке неминуемо угаснет.
Сам фильм скорее снят для тех, кому знакомы проблемы беженцев и поиска себя в чужом враждебном мире. И Йоав сполна прочувствует на себе все трудности такой адаптации. Мир, о котором он так мечтал, на поверку оказывается пластмассовой подделкой, где охранники могут заставлять людей часами стоять под дождем, не открывая двери, только потому, что просто могут; где вместо души «художнику» больше интересно сколько пальцев Йоав может засунуть себе туда, куда пальцы обычно не суют; где музыка консерватории кажется мертвой на фоне воспоминаний от музыки автоматных очередей. Насилие толерантного общества больше не физическое, оно скорее выражено в моральных рамках и ограничениях, когда нельзя попросить жену приготовить мясо, потому что она любит брокколи, или накричать на нее, застукав в постели с любовником.
Картина обрывается на высокой ноте, оставляя странное чувство недосказанности. Заслуживает ли она тех хвалебных отзывов, которые размещены на главном постере к фильму и что так обаяло кинокритиков? Тут я могу только гадать:
1. Во-первых автором картины является израильтянин Надав Лапид, а концептуальное иностранное кино всегда ценится видавшими видами киносудьями. Тем более редко кто поносит европейские ценности кроме самих европейцев (а тут создатели из Израиля – Ближний Восток, как-никак…).
2. Во-вторых тема беженцем и миграции в целом довольно злободневна для современной Европы, авторы фильма осознавали это и били (что называется) в цель.
3. В-третьих на всех кинопоказах Лапид заявляет, что фильм – это автобиография его молодости, а главный герой и его мытарства – лично пережитый опыт. Личная история всегда интереснее чем чистый вымысел.
Достаточно ли это для того, чтобы заслужить высокий титул? Судите сами, но по мне, как Эмиль и Каролина клюнули на экзотический продукт, так и критики пошли на поводу у знающего вкусы публики режиссера. Не зря четверть фильма актер Том Мерсье показательно светит своим «хозяйством» направо и налево, ведь рассуждая об открытости нравов свободной Европы, будем честны – стареющая богема киноиндустрии в большинстве своем жаждет молодой (и сомневаюсь, что женской) крови, как жадный стареющий вельможа молодую служанку (ну правда, никакой смысловой нагрузки «дик-пик» сцены не имели, а сохрани режиссер этот образ в тайне умелым ракурсом — было бы даже более выразительнее). Да и тема бегущего из Родины израильтянина выглядит вполне «хайпово».
Большой вопрос к похвалам в сторону того же Йоава, который 95% фильма изображает 2 эмоции – мертвую отстраненность и что-то среднее между гневом и безумием (простите, но даже в эмоциональных сценах преодоления себя со слезами ничего кроме лица мертвой рыбы он так и не выдал).
Слишком много из описанного выше мне пришлось докрутить у себя в мозгу, на экране все смотрится менее очевидно, и если для кого-то это плюс, то для меня — это всего лишь шелуха. Проблемы беженцев на экране (уверен, в жизни все выглядит куда более жестко) выглядят подчеркнуто надуманными, ибо ехать в Тулу со своим самоваром смысла нет. Для примера: на фоне социального треш-фильма «Айка», рассказывающего о проблемах молодой «гастробайтерши» в Москве, история Йоава выглядит бледно (вот где были реальные проблемы!).
Можно ли получить удовольствие от Синонимов? Для себя решил, что исключительно под настроение! Фильм не шокирует, не дарит откровений, не открывает новые горизонты. История, без сомнения, поучительна, но герои тут все какие-то мертвые, бегают от себя как Гектор от Ахиллеса в любимой истории Йоава, боясь принять решающий бой с самим собой.
Сценарий 4+, игра актеров 3+, общее визуальное впечатление 3+.
А как вам фильм? Планируете ли смотреть и какие впечатления после просмотра?
На экраны выходят «Синонимы» — фильм-победитель Берлинского фестиваля, рассказывающий историю израильтянина, который хотел жить и умереть в Париже, но обнаружил, что его слова расходятся с телом
Фото: Кинопоиск
В начале было тело. Слова появятся потом — сперва тело должно родиться, излить из себя семя и умереть, завершив жизненный цикл. Тело принадлежит израильтянину Йоаву, который, приехав в Париж и заснув в огромной неотапливаемой квартире, среди ночи выползает из утробы спального мешка, чтобы согреться хотя бы в ванной. Пока он мастурбирует под душем, кто-то крадет все его пожитки, и Йоав обнаруживает, что, если бегать голым по подъезду и с гортанным ближневосточным акцентом требовать тебе помочь, никто почему-то не откроет двери. Тогда он возвращается в выстуженную квартиру, чтобы, толком не увидев Парижа, умереть: ко всему прочему, в кране больше нет горячей воды.
Утром холодное тело найдут в пустой ванне Эмиль и Каролин, хрестоматийная и почти анекдотическая парижская пара, живущая по соседству: он вяло пишет скучный роман «Ночи инерции», она играет на гобое и с интересом посматривает на обрезанный пенис спасенного, денег у обоих куры не клюют. Они положат Йоава в свою постель, согреют, оденут, дадут телефон, конверт с купюрами и выслушают его историю: он действительно собирался умереть и заново родиться, поскольку больше не хочет быть израильтянином и даже отказывается говорить на иврите. Сюда Йоав приехал, чтобы придумать нового себя и стать настоящим жителем Парижа, хотя о Франции имеет очень смутное представление и на вопрос, каких французов он вообще знает, отвечает: «Селин Дион».
Надав Лапид, режиссер «Полицейского» и «Воспитательницы», за «Синонимы» получил в Берлине «Золотого медведя». С одной стороны, это очень израильский фильм с гневными филиппиками против процветающего в стране милитаризма, флешбеками из армейских будней главного героя, а также рассказами о кровавом прошлом, полном насилия настоящем и сомнительном будущем непрерывно воюющего государства. Йоав, собственно говоря, — это библейский Иоав, главный военачальник царя Давида и довольно неприятный субъект, символизирующий как раз темную сторону Израиля, которую главный герой пытается изгнать из себя, словно демона-паразита («государство злое, похабное, невежественное, глупое, гнусное, грубое, мерзкое, отвратительное, невыносимое, жалкое, противное, ненавистное, скотское, ограниченное, низкое помыслами, низкое душой», — синонимы складываются у Йоава в гневную рэперскую скороговорку, которую хочется закончить радищевским «и лаяй», но понятно, что так ненавидеть можно только родную — и любимую — страну).
С другой стороны, история поиска эмигрантом новой идентичности оказывается вполне интернациональной. Йоаву кажется, что главное — это отказаться от старого языка. Поэтому он бродит по парижским улицам со словарем, декламируя цепочки французских синонимов как детские стихи, и не хочет говорить на иврите ни с родителями, которые звонят ему по скайпу, ни с коллегами по израильскому посольству, куда он устраивается охранником. Даже свои истории про Израиль — то ли притчи, то ли анекдоты — Йоав дарит Эмилю, чтобы окончательно освободиться от них.
Слова действительно играют в фильме важную роль: в частности, обнаружив, что текст «Марсельезы» полон призывов к насилию и вообще направлен на возбуждение ненависти по признакам принадлежности к социальной группе, Йоав окончательно понимает, что хотел поменять свое шило с бурыми следами крови даже не на душистое французское мыло, а на другое шило — точно такое же, но с перламутровой рукояткой. Однако название «Синонимы», в сущности, обманчиво: это картина не столько про язык, сколько про тело. Тело, которое нельзя поменять и которое хранит память о всех ранах, ласках, ожогах, объятиях и ударах — пока не успокоится, окоченев, в чьей-то чужой белой ванне. Израиль для Йоава — это тело, злое, волосатое и мускулистое, как те израильтяне, что рыскают по Парижу в поисках антисемитов, чтобы выплеснуть агрессию, а не найдя, валтузят друг друга в тесных кабинетах, словно школьники-переростки. Его детский кумир, гомеровский Гектор, — тоже тело, сперва красивое и полное силы, а затем мертвое, над которым можно надругаться, которое можно вернуть, продать или обменять. Да и сам Йоав — точно такое же тело, как выясняется в студии порнографа, где несостоявшийся француз будет наконец стонать и плакать на иврите, поскольку его практически изнасилованная плоть всегда принадлежала и будет принадлежать израильтянину.
Впрочем, главный герой, похоже, догадывается об этом с самого начала: он неслучайно носит свое роскошное горчичное пальто, подарок Эмиля, застегнутым на все пуговицы, и усмиряет плоть, тратя на еду не больше пары евро в день и покупая самые дешевые продукты в самом жалком супермаркете. Но тело никуда не спрячешь, и временами кажется, что оно целиком заполняет собой каждый кадр. Том Мерсье, для которого роль Йоава стала дебютом в кино, похож то ли на юного Тома Харди, то ли на молодого Бельмондо, и глаз от него оторвать невозможно, что бы он ни делал — бежал, танцевал, мастурбировал, пел, умирал или просто сидел на диване. Его тело говорит сразу на всех языках, превращая «Синонимы» из набора анекдотов про израильтянина в Париже в большой фильм — непристойный, тонкий, клеветнический, умный, стыдный, возмутительный, нежный, пошлый, наглый, обаятельный, смешной, бессовестный, космополитичный, националистический, злой и красивый. «Выбери что-нибудь одно», — предлагает Эмиль, когда Йоав, говоря об Израиле, обрушивает на него свою лавину эпитетов. Pardon, mec, mais j’peux pas. Прости, чувак, никак не получится.
Рецензии на фильм Синонимы
- Создатели
- Отзывы6
- Рецензии2
- Трейлеры4
- Награды1
-
Mystery_girl_5 мая 2019 6
Синонимично
Общее впечатление: Лента странно начинается, как впрочем и обрывочно заканчивается. Не успеваю я привыкнуть к герою, как тут же забываю какой он….
Развернуть
-
kickingrussian29 апреля 2019 8
Чужие глаголы
В получившем в феврале этого года «Золотого Медведя» на фестивале в Берлине проекте «Синонимы» режиссер и сценарист Надав Лапид…
Развернуть
Правила размещения рецензии
- Рецензия должна быть написана грамотным русским языкомПри её оформлении стоит учитывать базовые правила типографики, разбивать длинный текст на абзацы, не злоупотреблять заглавными буквами
- Рецензия, в тексте которой содержится большое количество ошибок, опубликована не будет
- В тексте рецензии должно содержаться по крайней мере 500 знаковМеньшие по объему тексты следует добавлять в раздел «Отзывы»
- При написании рецензии следует по возможности избегать спойлеров (раскрытия важной информации о сюжете)чтобы не портить впечатление о фильме для других пользователей, которые только собираются приступить к просмотру
- На ivi запрещен плагиатНе следует копировать, полностью или частично, чужие рецензии и выдавать их за собственные. Все рецензии уличенных в плагиате пользователей будут немедленно удалены
- В тексте рецензии запрещено размещать гиперссылки на внешние интернет-ресурсы
- При написании рецензии следует избегать нецензурных выражений и жаргонизмов
- В тексте рецензии рекомендуется аргументировать свою позициюЕсли в рецензии содержатся лишь оскорбительные высказывания в адрес создателей фильма, она не будет размещена на сайте
- Рецензия во время проверки или по жалобе другого пользователя может быть подвергнута редакторской правкеисправлению ошибок и удалению спойлеров
- В случае регулярного нарушения правил все последующие тексты нарушителя рассматриваться для публикации не будут
- На сайте запрещено публиковать заказные рецензииПри обнаружении заказной рецензии все тексты её автора будут удалены, а возможность дальнейшей публикации будет заблокирована
Синонимы
Synonymes
Информация о фильме:
Премьера в мире:
13.02.2019 г.
Описание о чём фильм
Фильм Синонимы является европейской драмой о приключениях молодого израильтянина в заснеженном Париже, где столкновение культур и мировоззрений превращают главного героя практически в совершенно другого человека благодаря влиянию моды, современных гаджетов и прочих технологий, а также скорости и уровню жизни большого мегаполиса. Премьера картины состоялась на Международном Берлинском кинофестивале в феврале 2019 года. Там, на Берлинале, картина получила два приза -главного Золотого Медведя и Приз ФИПРЕССИ. Эту драму по собственному сценарию снял Надав Лапид, создатель оригинальной европейской киноленты, по которой снят ремейк Воспитательница.
Действие сюжета развернётся зимой в красотах Парижа, куда после дембеля прибывает юноша по имени Йоав из Израиля. Поселившись в бесхозной заброшенной квартирке он подвергается ограблению прямо в момент принятия душа. Пока он был в ванной комнате — абсолютно все его вещи и одежда оказываются украдены, и он голышом вынужден бегать на морозе в поисках злоумышленников. Потерявшего сознания от переохлаждения его находят добродушные соседи: писатель-неудачник Эмиль, мечтающий наконец прославиться и его подруга-музыкант, упражняющаяся в игре на габое. Они помогают бедолаге Йоаву, отведя в торговый дом Kenzo, одевают по последней моде, всучив уйму классной современной одежды за свой счёт, покупают современный мобильный телефон, помогают с поиском маленькой тесной квартирки и вручают пачку евро на начало новой жизни. Так начинаются его дни в Париже с кучей модных шмоток и современными гаджетами. Достаточно ли всего этого, чтобы превратить израильтянина в жителя большого города — и предстоит понять главному герою.
Актёрский состав фильмв состоит из европейский артистов в числе которых Том Мерсье, Луиз Шевильот, Кантен Дольмер, Урия Хаик, Оливье Лусто (Кус-Кус и Барабулька), Гал Амитай, Гайя Фон Шварце, Йехуда Альмагор, Идан Ашкенази. Хронометраж у картины заявлен около двух часов. А дата премьеры в России должна состояться в кинотеатрах страны двадцать пятого апреля 2019 года, прокатчиком выступает компания «ПРОвзгляд».
Трейлер
Если трейлер Синонимы не работает, пожалуйста, сообщите нам, прислав ссылку на эту страницу на адрес [email protected] Заранее спасибо!
Смотреть онлайн
Выберите видеосервис, на котором Вы хотите посмотреть этот фильм онлайн (на видеосервисах фильмы выходят примерно через месяц-два после выхода в кино, иногда русские фильмы выходят раньше).
Отзывы зрителей
Хотите узнать, понравится ли Вам фильм? Почитайте отзывы на фильм Синонимы (2019) зрителей, которые уже посмотрели и делятся своими впечатлениями, рассказывая, что стоит ожидать от просмотра этого кино. Посмотрите рейтинг на Мегакритике, ознакомьтесь со списком жанров картины и описанием сюжета. В заголовке зрительских отзывов указан процент его полезности на основе голосов читателей, общее количество голосов, имя автора и его оценка фильму по десятибалльной шкале.
58% (12) Зритель оценил(а) в 3 из 10
29-04-2019 / 13:07
Отзывы критиков (анонсы рецензий)
При отсутствии оценки критика, её выставляет редактор на основании текста рецензии. Узнать как добавить новый отзыв критика Вы можете здесь.
Мегакритик не размещает на сайте кинофильмы для просмотра. Рейтинги рассчитываются с помощью специальной формулы. Информация о картинах проката и постеры предоставлены ресурсом КиноПоиск.
5/10
Mostly a missed opportunity
Warning: Spoilers
On its face it looks like a provocative and interesting film could have been made, throwing a half-tame, disaffected, confused ex-Israeli soldier into the sophisticated, mindful and permanently leisured society of Paris-in-French-Movies (a place not to be confused with either Paris-in-US-Movies, or Actual-Paris where I once lived).
Sadly, the film doesn’t find anything novel to explore in this setup. In fact, the central plot strand is a bog-standard, hoary, clapped-out French melodrama trope, as our unpolished, virile, tortured hero meets an artistically minded posh girl with a bland, rich boyfriend. Will they, maybe, fall for each other and have a short wild affair, before his Weltschmertz and uncouth behaviour finally cause her to turn her back on him while hiding a sob? Oh, the suspense.
Around that there are other sub-plots and minor characters thrown in, but few of them can be believed in any longer than it takes them to gaze in the distance and pout (if French), or put someone’s head in an arm-lock (if Israeli).
The film is neither dumb nor unwatchable, mostly due to a highly physical central performance by the lead actor who is on screen almost the entire time, but I found it difficult to give it my full attention. The very final scene is a bit of an obvious metaphor, certainly, but it gave me a smile.
11 out of 11 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
A Thesaurus of a Film…
… leaves you under no illusion of the differing liberties that exist between two nations and their cultures in the mind of a young man fleeing Israel for France. Irregular and inconsistent, at times a tough nut to crack, although when is life anything other than that? If you need a linear melody and clarity of enunciation then this film is not for you — but who want’s to waste their time being spoon fed the kind of valueless stuff the masses grow fat on. A bit of imagination and diversity is so much more wholesome.
23 out of 30 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Noisy, pretentious, pointless and boring
Film undoubtedly directed by pretentious high school students, during an internship.
Cons: 1. Yoav runs away from Israel because Israel is, I literally quote, «méchant, obscène, hideux, … » and he arrives in Paris to work within the embassy of (guess what!) Israel. Incredible! It’s moronic… 2. Yoav does not speak. Yoav yells or shouts. Constantly. Unnecessarily. Sometimes, to change, Yoav screams. It’s boring… 3. Yoav impregnates himself, idly and condescendingly, from the customs and traditions of the Parisian natives to fill the void of his own life. It’s depressing… 4. Yoav plays music with a machine gun, on a French song interpreted by the american band Pink Martini. It’s almost funny. But no, actually. 5. Yoav is sometimes filmed with a basic camera held by a person obviously suffering from epilepsy: right, left, up, down, … quickly and randomly. I was almost seasick. 6. … 7. … and so on, and so on … 8. …
Pros: Paris, the city. However, I live there and I may see this city everyday; then, I do not need to waste my time during two (long!) hours in a movie theater, for this kind of movie. So, finally, no positive point. Definitely!
As a synthesis, in one word: no!
101 out of 178 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
A unique experience which raises important questions about the nature of our identity
According to award-winning Israeli director Nadav Lapid («The Kindergarten Teacher»), «art has the right to be chaotic and wild, to go to extreme and dangerous places.» If you are looking for chaotic and wild, you need look no further than his Synonyms (Milim Nirdafot), a mystifying and often maddening film that will either leave you awestruck or looking for the nearest exit. Winner of the Golden Bear and the FIPRESCI prize at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival and Lapid’s first film shot outside of Israel, Synonyms is loosely based on the director’s personal experience of having left Israel for Paris after completing his mandatory military service. As he explains enigmatically, «I left Israel not because of any specific event, but due to its very existence as the embodiment and shaper of ‘Israeliness,’ at the collective Israeli soul, the DNA of being Israeli.»
Co-written by Lapid’s father Haim Lapid, the film introduces first-time actor Tom Mercier as Yoav, an Israeli ex-patriot who wants to shed his identity as a macho Israeli soldier and become immersed in French culture, one that he sees as celebrating the arts. In bondage to his heritage, Yoav carries with him the burdens of being an Israeli with its history and present day political conflicts. Paradoxically, the film does not mention the fact of the resurgence of antisemitism in France and the departure of many Jews to Israel. Ultimately, however, Yoav is no more enamored with Paris than he is with Tel Aviv, and the interchangeable synonyms he constantly repeats reflect the similarity of his experience in both cultures.
As captured by the hand-held camera of cinematographer Shai Goldman («Doubtful»), the film opens with the view of a young man’s feet walking briskly through the streets of Paris. As he enters an old building near the River Seine and opens the door to his room, there is nothing inside but empty space — no furniture of any kind. Leaving his back pack in the middle of the floor, he does what any normal person would do in a cold and empty house. He strips naked, takes a bath and begins to masturbate until he is disturbed by sounds coming from the next room. Jumping out of the bath naked, he discovers that he has been robbed of all his possessions and frenetically runs through the building knocking on doors for help but to no avail, a suggestion perhaps that Paris will not be as welcoming as he thought.
With nothing left to do to protect himself from the cold, he gets back into the tub in a state of hypothermia and awaits redemption or death whichever comes first. Yoav is jostled back to life the next morning, however, by two young neighbors, Emile (Quentin Dolmaire, «My Golden Days»), the son of a wealthy entrepreneur and a would-be writer and his partner Caroline (Louise Chevillotte, «Lover for a Day»), an accomplished oboist, poster children for the French bourgeoisie. Though Yoav is a total stranger, Emile gives him the clothes and financial support he needs to keep going.
Refusing even to speak Hebrew, Yoav is repelled by Israel calling it «evil, despicable, disgusting, odorous,» among other choice adjectives he learned from his pocket-sized French dictionary. He does not even smile when Emile tells him that, «No country can be all of those things at once.» Possibly suffering from PTSD, Yoav is disillusioned about what he believes to be his country’s obsession with security and takes his anger out on his own body, freezing it, starving it, and prostituting it.
According to Lapid, Yoav is «banging his head against a wall called Israel. But it’s also because he is banging his head against himself.» His diet consists of the same dish every day, a plate of spaghetti with crushed tomatoes, the cheapest meal possible. He advertises for work as a model, but has to endure abuse at the hands of the «artist,» the only one who answers his ad. He is fired from his job as a security agent for the Israeli consulate when he takes pity on a lineup of immigrant applicants who are waiting in the pouring rain. Shouting that there is «no border,» Yoav allows them to enter the embassy without being processed.
Along the way, Yoav meets some fellow Israelis, but they only serve to reinforce his preconceptions. One is tasked by the embassy to create incidents in order to confront gangs of neo-Nazis, while another aggressively hums the music to the «Hatikvah» in the face of Metro travelers interested only in getting home after a day’s work. Though Emile is apparently sexually attracted to Yoav, he does not act on his impulses but, instead, helps him in his desire to become a French citizen by arranging a marriage to Caroline.
In the citizenship class, Yoav has to sing «La Marseillaise» as well as the Israeli national anthem in his own language, but he goes through the motions of reciting the words without feeling or commitment. Synonyms is a polarizing film which basically mirrors Lapid’s view of the Israeli army as a reflection of the nation’s damaged soul. While it lacks a coherent narrative and will test your endurance, Synonyms is a unique experience which raises important questions about the nature of our identity, our ability to come to terms with who we are, and our willingness to celebrate it.
30 out of 53 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Excellent Film About a Displaced Person
«Synonyms» is a film that a lot viewers probably won’t completely get. I didn’t, since I’m not that knowledgeable about Israeli culture, and only learned more about it after seeing this movie and doing some research. But even if one can’t necessarily understand the specifics, I think viewers who are willing to give this movie a chance will be able to understand the feelings behind it.
Tom Mercier gives a phenomenal and completely naked performance (figuratively and literally) as a young Israeli man trying to start a new life in France. He’s caught between the macho, rigid belief systems of the country he’s leaving behind and the lack of belief systems of his adopted country. You’re free to be anything and do anything in France, but not really. Like anywhere, you’re free if you have the money to be, and if you don’t belong to a class of people who are discriminated against for one reason or another, and if, and if, and if. Mercier’s character wants to get away from the Israeli commando culture that doesn’t want to let him go, but by the end of the movie he’s almost embracing it because at least it’s a belief in something, whereas the privileged, bored, bourgeois France that he’s exposed to is like a banal black hole.
There are countless moments in this film that are bizarre and perplexing, none less so than the one when he’s hired by a videographer to strip naked, lay on his back with a finger up his anus, and shout out what I guess are supposed to be provocative phrases but instead come pouring out of him like a howl of rage and frustration. The scene is long and awkward and uncomfortable and so completely lays bare (pun quite intended) the vulnerability Mercier’s character feels in a country that doesn’t care about him, or rather only cares about what it can get out of him.
This one stuck with me for quite a while.
Grade: A
11 out of 19 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Disappointing
Yoav (Tom Mercier) is a young Israeli man who has recently arrived in Paris with the intention of becoming a French citizen and renouncing his Israeli identity. Upon his arrival, he befriends a young couple: Emile (Quentin Dolmaire) and Caroline (Louise Chevillotte).
«Synonyms» has an enjoyable, cosmopolitan vibe. There are also some interesting scenes in which Yoav is participating in language classes that immerse new French citizens. Unfortunately, there are too many limitations in the film that diminish the viewing.
It is clear that Yoav has mental health issues but there isn’t enough background given about him to help sympathize with his plight. There is also little to no information on why he hates Israel so much and wants to abandon his family. A scene between Yoav and a family member was touching but too brief.
Overall, too much in the film does not make sense. — dbamateurcritic
22 out of 38 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT
I saw ‘Synonyms’ yesterday (Oct 5, 2019) at the Mill Valley Film Festival and while watching it and for short time afterward, I had no clue about what I’d seen. In short, What was the plot? I walked to my car, began the drive home, and … POW … a plot-wise theory came to mind.
On its face the story is one of a gay Israeli youth, come to Paris, to reinvent himself, to begin a new life. And with the help of a French couple he meets in Paris, and despite the desires of his Israeli father to return, he seems to do just that.
But that synopsis hardly takes up the film’s two hours. What does encompass the rest of the time are some pretty harrowing, vaguely interesting incidents that take place, some in Paris and others in Israel. None of these incidents are more than snippets. There are no true beginnings or endings. They are there. A seemingly insane Israeli fight-picker on the Paris Metro. An Israeli Security Chief with an unorthodox interviewing style. A rainy day at Paris’ Israeli Embassy. Machine gun firing in tune to piped in music. And on. And on.
And it was as I was driving home that I realized these incidents were nothing but stories our hero was imparting to the young French Couple who’d taken him in. Now I imagine that others in the audience may have understood this. But not me. It’s not as though these ‘stories’ are book-ended by a fade-in or out, by special music or unique photo effects. In fact our hero looks and sounds precisely as he does in ‘real-life’ throughout these related stories. So, again, I was in the dark. But a bigger issue is this. Suppose I did understand the story-within-story construct. Would that have made the film any better. Maybe. By one star.
One more thing. The hero’s penis. It’s on screen a lot. Some might say more than necessary. I mean I can imagine the film with absolutely no frontal-nudity whatsoever and I would have been just as satisfied or dissatisfied. Actors today are given to saying, I’ll be nude if it advances the story. Well it’s tough to know how this penis does.
42 out of 78 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Brutalized Israeli soldier seeks new identity in France.
Warning: Spoilers
Israeli writer/director Nadav Lapid makes tough stories about obsessives: The Policeman, The Kindergarten Teacher and now Synonyms. The latter became Israel’s first winner of the Golden Lion as Best Feature at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival.
The film centers on a compelling example of the traumatic effect Israel’s 70 years of defensive war has had on its citizens, its soldiers and their families.
Hero Yoav is an Israeli who has fled his national home in revulsion. That is, he is the new version of The Wandering Jew. The new model is a strapping virile sabra with a lip-ring. The Jewish homeland has failed him, he contends. There’s a quiet irony here: at a time when Jews find a resurgent antisemitism in France and are fleeing to Israel, our hero flees the homeland to Paris.
Yoav begins anew in an empty Paris flat. A robbery leaves him stripped to Lear’s «bare forked animal.» He is saved from freezing to death by a wealthy industrialist’s son Emile and his oboist partner Caroline. Yoav has to rebuild himself anew.
Emile dresses and supports Yoav, eventually arranging for him to marry Caroline and to begin the process of becoming a French citizen. In the citizenship class Yoav sings La Marseillaise with a rebel-to-the-ramparts gusto. But when the students are asked to sing their native anthems he mechanically rushes out the words of Hatikvah, sans music and commitment. His conversion of nationality seems true.
That nearly mortal freeze becomes Yoav’s primary characterization. He tells his new friends his father froze to death in a remote Israeli military post during a blizzard. (The father appears later, hoping to bring his son back home. He leaves assured he can tell Yoav’s mother he has seen their son and he is alright.) Yoav tells Emile he himself almost froze to death when he got lost in a blizzard at that same outpost.
That freeze of course is a metaphor for the frozen heart, the coldness that characterizes someone who has lost empathy for others. For Lapid as for many thinkers on the Israeli Left, Israel’s constant struggle to survive has turned her callous, cruel, harsh in its treatment of its Muslim citizens and neighbours. Israel’s military has cost the nation its soul, however its root in those neighbours’ determination to destroy her.
Yoav’s hatred of Israel becomes self-loathing. He abases himself by eating the cheapest food he can get from the cheapest supermarket. He sells himself as a «model» to an artist who films him in sexual self-abuse.
The artist’s partner Yasmine is the film’s one Palestinian. She has settled nicely into the European freedom, living stylishly with the questionable artist, but retaining the bigotry that defines her nationalism: «I can’t talk to you.»
Yoav finds that imported intransigence among the Jews at his second job, with the security staff at the Israeli embassy. As in the army, his colleagues indulge their power over others. They send away a workman because his helper son didn’t bring his ID.
Yoav is fired when he wildly lets the entire line-up of immigration applicants enter the embassy — «cross the border» — without interview or process, in order to get them out of the rain. This is the humane behaviour that should overrule Israel’s security concerns. (It probably works better in Paris than at the Gaza border.)
Though more orderly than Yoav, his colleagues prove personally worse. One participates in a furtive gang-war with neo-Nazis, proudly showing a photo of the wolf-hound he tore apart. Another asserts his Jewishness belligerently, as if daring people to assault him. He aggressively hums Hatikvah in the faces of innocent Metro passengers. There and in the civilized bar, the Parisians deny him any response.
Yoav’s more civilized friend lives idly off his factory and struggles to become a writer. Emile has to drink to overcome his fear of writing. Short on imagination, he uses some of the stories Yoav spins. Yoav first gifts him those tales, then asks for them back when he resolves to become French.
One tale is especially fertile. Yoav claims that at his security job interview, one psychological test required he make up a story based on a picture he was shown. Realizing the need for an optimistic front, he decides the boy he sees holding a rifle to his own head decides at the last minute that life is worth living. But what Yoav saw as a rifle and magazine was actually a violin and bow. His calculated optimism betrayed a more profound pessimism.
This parable extends into his shooting range test. He machine guns a target, then asks the officer to guess what tune he was playing with that rhythm, again collapsing music into violence.
Climactically, Yoav takes his violence into Caroline’s musical world when he goes backstage at her concert and both verbally and physically assaults the musicians. Bad enough he arrived late to the performance, causing the whole row to bob up to admit him. He then shatters his relationship with Caroline by brutishly exercising his French freedom of speech in their green room, taunting them with the freedom questions from his citizenship class. His compulsive intention is its effect — to embarrass his new wife and to shatter his new life.
The film opens on a montage of subjective shots of Yoav’s compulsive movement through the streets of Paris. In the last scene Yoav pounds his body and head against Caroline’s door, in futile attempt to re-enter. The brutishness he thinks he was fleeing in Israel is — like the kingdom of God — within him. The Israeli Yoav and the wouldbe French Yoav are still the same Yoav — synonyms.
Yoav bought «a light dictionary» to carry with him to expand his French. As he strides through the Paris streets he recites lists of words. They’re synonyms when he lists his Israel’s faults, but otherwise they can be rhymes, free association, random phrases. Their point is incoherence. His inner language expresses his fragmented psyche.
The film’s title applies the phenomenon of identicals in language to the larger question of identity in life. In France or in Israel Yoav is Yoav, a Jew, an Israeli, ever on the defence however offensive he may act. This brutalizing is a tragic consequence of the nation’s constant need to defend herself against annihilation.
38 out of 77 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
‘synonyms’ or ‘false friends’?
Warning: Spoilers
Nadav Lapid’s talent as a director and scriptwriter is visible in the excellent scenes that open and conclude his movie ‘Synonyms’ (‘Milim Nirdafot’ in Hebrew) Which received the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Yoav, the film’s hero, an Israeli young man fleeing from his country, begins his journey in Paris nude and with no nothing that belongs to him, as at his birth after being robbed of his bag and clothes in the apartment where he spent the first night. At the end, we see him banging with his fists and then trying in vain to break a door that never opens, behind which is hiding his French friend, and perhaps the world he dreamed of becoming part of, a world that also rejects him. It is obvious that director Nadav Lapid likes symbols and his film is loaded with them, although not all of them are successful in the same way.
‘Synonyms’ is not a movie that tries to be enjoyed. From this point of view I would compare Nadav Lapid with Yorgos Lanthimos, another director who does not hesitate to shock his viewers in each of his films, creating uncomfortable symbols and situations that make many viewers agitate in their chairs or even leave the cinema theaters before the end of the projections. From the point of view of the Israelis, young people like Yoav, who are leaving to other countries are not exotic characters at all. Thousands of Israelis try every year their chance in the big world. Most of them, however, do it without the hatred of Nadav Lapid’s hero, keeping contact with their country, families and with their identity and mother tongue. After all, no one can escape from the star under which we are born. Not even Yoav, who can leave Israel, may try to give up his mother tongue, but not his personal history and his mentality. Even the main metaphor of the film, that of an identity change by the complete renunciation of Hebrew is borrowed from the Zionist myth of the East European pioneers, who a century ago quit the yiddish spoken by their parents to adopt a the new language and a new cultural identity in Palestine that was to become the State of Israel in 1948. The film is equally critical of France. His French friends seem unable to give Yoav a moral support beyond the material aspects, and the institutions that try to educate immigrants in the values ??of French democracy and laicity seem to lack the necessary cultural tact and instrumentation, resorting to sterile, almost caricatural methods. However, the guilt of non-adjustment is ultimately personal. Yoav comes to France and tries to learn its language with a dictionary, but he is not ready to assimilate its culture and mentality. The scene of the concert is eloquent, it is also the moment when the dimensions of the gap become clear. Lapid’s Yoav is an extreme exception, both as an Israeli and as an immigrant in France. Failure is only his own, it is a personal failure. However, because of the way the movie is made, I am afraid that many of its viewers will miss this.
What I liked. I have already mentioned the symbolism of some of the scenes. Tom Mercier’s acting performance is sensational, despite being a debutante. The actor has charisma and personality, and Yoav’s role fits him well. A star is born. The agile editing, sometimes too nervous, gives a sense of hysterical dynamics, suited to the atmosphere and the main character. What I liked less. The approach is wry, there is no detachment, no dose of humor. All the Israeli secondary characters are grotesquely and schematically presented, almost like negative stereotypes. The only exception is Yoav’s father, and the few seconds the two meet create one of the rare moments of empathy in the film. I confess that I did not understand the role of the group of Israelis in black suits, characters who actually completely disappear halfway through the movie. Who are they or what they mean? Are they real characters or fruit of Yoav’s imagination and nightmares? ‘Synonyms’ could open up a very interesting discussion about cultural and linguistic identity, about the possibility of physically and spiritually fleeing from the country where you were born, about the hopes and the realities of being accepted in a new country. The negativism and the rigidity of the director’s approach are making the debate difficult, and I’m interested if there have been or if there will be such open debates around the film in Israel or in the Diaspora. To use a specific English expression, Nadav Lapid’s ‘Synonyms’ risk being actually ‘false friends’. This important, promising and disturbing movie might be liked by some or rejected by others but not for the right reasons and even not for the reasons intended by its authors.
25 out of 56 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Not Sure
Not sure what the point of the movie was. Is it displeasure w/some aspect of Israeli military service? Disgust w/Israeli political positions? Finding one’s identity? An unrealistic infatuation w/French idealism to be found by becoming French? A searching for friendship or relationship? Or something else since I’m not the brightest acorn on the tree & obtuseness (although good for artsy awards) is beyond me. Anyway, lots of time just walking & talking & reading a French language dictionary. Shows the power of words, culture & language.
10 out of 19 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
A wonderfully written film with a one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen in a while.
Synonyms seems to be yet another polarizing film among fans, I can understand the other side very well. When I first saw this film at the Berlin International Film Festival I didn’t know what to think. I loved all of the performances and thought the film had great dialogue. What baffled me though were scenes that didn’t quite make sense in the full context of the narrative. I had a similar reaction with I Was At Home But. But the more I thought about Synonyms I quickly came to the conclusion that I saw something special that I had to see again. I also predicted that the film would fair very well amongst the Jury (which it did as it won the Golden Bear). The story revolves around a young Israeli immigrant, Yoav. He flees his old home of Israel to live in Paris where he meets the young supposed couple Emile and Caroline and befriends them. Yoav feels a bit like Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump or Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man where he seems like a fish out of water in most situations within the film. These moments often lead to some strange and hilarious moments within the film. The chemistry these young actors have with one another is inevitably sweet and draws the audience in. The main actor Tom Mericier is a contender for my favorite performance of 2019. His likeable, yet strange character creates a perfect balance of relatability and intrigue. The audience wants to learn who he is and what shaped him to become such a strange man, in his oversized yellow trench coat. This might be a reason why viewers were turned off by this as many questions are never directly answered. The writing and directing leave subtle hints and who Yoav is but most of the time the character is a complete alien to everyone. Reasons for his distaste for Israel are called into question which challenges the viewer, if we critique aspects of our own culture, will we be viewed just like we view Yoav? Can we assimilate with another culture or will we be left out in the dark. This tragic yet funny tale is a great study on culture and integration, a concept that might not be the most original. But the original execution involving three great central performances, as well as a witty screenplay with interesting characters definitely makes this the most interesting experience I’ve had at the Berlin International Film Festival.
43 out of 91 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Is our identity ours to create?
Don’t listen to all the bad reviews here from people probably pissed they had to look at a naked man. This is a brilliant, original film about the nature of identity — how much is indelible and how much is fluid? — with a blistering lead performance from Tom Mercier, who has the look and charisma of a young Tom Hardy. This is the first of Lapid’s films I’ve seen but will look forward to seeing more.
11 out of 17 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A great actor
Let me get one thing out of the way immediately. Tom Mercier is a great actor, and the performance in this film will be hard to follow. I had a sort of James Dean in ‘ East of Eden ‘ feeling, and those golden days are long since gone. The worry is how many people will see this film and the blurb on this site about front and rear nudity and gay interest is both not necessary and borders on the absurd. Yes, like every other male he has a penis and yes we see it. A natural part of the body which he is not afraid to show, and as for the gay interest gay men can see many male parts easily on the internet and will not have to come to this film to ‘ indulge ‘ themselves. When will hetero males and some women get over the fact that the penis is not a weapon that is going to set off World War 3 ? This is necessary to write here because so much attention on this veers away from the sheer beauty of the film as film, and undercuts the quality of all performances in it. And Paris is equally at her best thanks to the direction, and for a glimpse of a floodlit Notre Dame at night before the fire that nearly destroyed it anyone who loves Paris must see it. As for the story every other review seems to either dislike or like it in more or less equal measure. Israel is even more of a sore subject for viewers than male homosexuality. The film is complex and sometimes perplexing, and as a few people have noticed it deals with one damaged young man and what his experiences in Israel have done to him. I do not want to spoil the ending which hits like a hammer blow, and in these final moments you see all the pain of men isolated in their pain, and we as viewers can only stare helplessly, and if we have hearts that ache for humanity can only cry out, stop this torture on the male bred for war. I hope Tom Mercier knows how emblematic he is of our times; again much like James Dean in his first major role. A final word again for cinema that comes out of France. ‘ Synonymes ‘ adds to the country’s explosion of talent and long may it continue.
16 out of 39 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Empty
This movie starts out well enough with a young Israeli man arriving in Paris where he almost immediately gets into trouble. But from then on the movie becomes incredibly frustrating because not much else happens for two hours. You’re just left with snippets of stories from the past and the present that eventually lead absolutely nowhere. I had heard this movie was a bit polarizing, but this is not the kind of movie I had in mind when I heard those words. When you think polarizing it’s either a very hard to understand movie, or an extremely violent one, something that produces a visceral reaction. This is just a dull and empty «polarizing» movie. It’s well shot and competently acted, but that’s not enough.
4 out of 6 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
A note to the director
There is no need to make a movie if you have nothing to say. Because if you do, you trap a number of unfortunate people to a theatre which you transform into a torture chamber. You bombard them with incomprehensible pictures, very badly cinematographed, making no sense whatsoever. If you think that the spectators can solve a non-existing puzzle, you are mistaken. I suggest that you can try to do something else, be a photographer or a painter, but not a film maker.
36 out of 72 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Awful
I’m all about alternative, european crap. Hell that is why I watch almost everything I can get to at festivals. This has to be one of the worst movies I’ve watched in my life. Storyline, structure, flow, script everything is atrocious.
26 out of 52 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Two long hours of bad conceptual art
If I had not been attending film festivals for 20 years, I might not think so harshly of this film. But all I could think is «been there, done that, and it was much better». Awful script — the main character would not know basic French vocabulary (like taureau) and then use common French expressions that you would not see on Advance language students. French characters were one-dimensional, and shared the same zombie-like acting of the main actor. Israeli characters were cartoon versions of Mossad-style psychos.
This was the film equivalent of bad conceptual art.
I wanted to leave at the 30 minute mark but did not want to disturb a whole row of senior citizens out of their seats. Avoid it if you can.
22 out of 43 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Go see for yourself
If a movie polarizers the audience so much as to receive such conflicting opinion, from garbage to masterpiece and winning a prestigious prize — just go see for yourself.
A lot of the bad reviews here are just an expression of hurt patriotic feelings which I respect but I don’t support in this setting . Art is supposed to be a point of view.
But Israel is a very propagandist environment where the army is sacred and there is no other point of view accepted. there is no climate for self reflection.
This movie is about being disillusioned angry and sad with what your country has become . It asks a lot of uncomfortable questions about the future of this country. It not a masterpiece but not garbage, it’s thought provoking and worth considering .
41 out of 72 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Provocateur
The disproportionate quantity of 1s over 10s received by this title shows that it has achieved its purpose, which is -in my view- to expose ideologies as they are in its strongest sense. Those reviewers who have felt their world questioned have reacted as expected.
I do not think that this should be taken personally by anyone, it exposes
ethnocentrism an nationalism alike (present in any of us, and more in some societies). The scene of the character trying to provoke and elicit negative sentiments by wearing a kippah or telling clients in a night club «I come from Israel and I am a Jewish», only to elicit a ‘so what’ response, is something very frequent. I have seen this attitude very often in nationalists of different kind, who think that the rest of the world is thinking ‘non stop’ about them. There is a coloured beggar in my neighbourhood; I never gave him any money, so that he calls me racist every time he sees me…
Regarding nudities, I can just talk about the Italian painter of the Renaissance Danielle da Volterra. He was charged by the Vatican to paint underpants in all figures appearing nude in the pictures and frescoes of Michel Angelo. He was nicknamed ‘il braghetone’.
Having lived in different countries, maybe I am more sensitive of some issues handled in this picture. You enter (nude) a new world only to be considered a ‘lesser person’ because you are not ‘the same as the others’.
12 out of 19 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
This movie should be called «Nothing»
This movie just has no script. It doesn’t have a storyline. It just a bunch of nonsense. This movie doesn’t have any ideas, nor will it bring any questions or answers. This is really a bad movie. And watching it was pretty much a torture. I can’t understand why it won an award.
The filming is really bad as well. The acting is on a low amateur level.
This movie reminds me of those school project short films that we did when we were 10-12 years old.
This movie just doesn’t have anything. Literally it has nothing.
P.S. : It’s funny that you can’t even spoiler it. As there is nothing to spoiler. Literally nothing. Nothing changes.
22 out of 48 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
It’s worth your time, believe me
Warning: Spoilers
As we don’t know how Yoav (main character’s name) knew where the key in order to get into the empty flat with a lot of rooms, we certainly know he came from foreign country to pursue «the better life» in France. Empty flat is France.
Long story in short, you can skip the details, is that after the cold night in the bathroom, he will meet with his new neighbors, friends, Emile and Caroline. Allegorically speaking and obviously, Emile and Caroline is the image of current France, and that’s the main plot of the movie, France’s relationship problem with emigres.
Emile and Caroline pays nothing to live in a big beautiful flat, their general life pursue is to write novels and make music, to drink a good wine, listen to a good music, and do some business to keep things on. All of it came to them seamlessly.
On the other hand, take Yoav. He has no place to stay, no dress to wear, no idea to pursue, what to do? Just some stories to tell.
I am afraid to say, I hope am wrong, people seem to be missing this — the relationship of France with emigres, the problem of collision of cultures, I will quote even definition of the word emigres as how it is written in dictionaries: «a person who has left their own country in order to settle in another, typically for political reasons.» That’s it.
The movie is about the most challenging topic for current Europe (besides Brexit for sure) and any other «successful» country in terms of GDP you have heard before, Europe countries mostly, how to take the relationships with the emigres, you get it?
Yoav can be seen as an image of a citizen from any country where GDP isn’t that high as in Europe countries, and that is not the problem if one wants to try to live a better life in better circumstances, but what the director is saying can be — you can take the citizen from his/her country indeed, but you can’t get his/her country from his.
I can write a lot about this movie, it’s a good movie, great characters, some plot for Joker sake you won’t find nowadays in all of these useless hero movies, but… I bet you bought tickets to see Avengers, right?
25 out of 56 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Stay away from this undeserved Golden Bear winner
This was by far the worst movie (out of 17) that I watched at the Berlinale this year. What a shock during the prize ceremony! After 90 of its 125 minutes, I still didn’t know what story it wanted to tell — only from the plot outline in the catalogue. It is an incoherent mess, pretentious, containing a few interesting scenes that lead nowhere … In the press screening, there was a constant line of people leaving the theater.
68 out of 135 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Most probably the worst film I have ever seen
This film makes zero sense. This guy came from Israel, speaks only high French, talks dirty about Israel in an illogical way, all the French are amazing, he lives without money, does nothing, has no thoughts and no feelings. Still he works at the embassy of his country he hates but does nothing. All the other security people are faceless horrible people who only try to hit people.
So pretentious, so useless and has no point whatsoever, except for putting Israel’s image bad (with lies!!) — shockingly bad, boring.
Just save your time & money and don’t see this horrible film.
46 out of 112 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Heartbreaking Work of Genius
Nadav Lapid has made a mesmerizing, epic tale of love and disassociation. There are heavily symbolic moments that almost break the thread of the dreamlike narrative — but everything fits together gorgeously in the end. At the core is a deeply sad story of love and betrayal. Scene after scene highlight Lapid’s bravura instinct for pure filmmaking. A scene where to women dance in a bar becomes a ballet of joy and release. Male/male love — not sexual exactly, but so potent and all-encompassing it positively explodes off the screen leads to an ending of devastating depth. The movie is close to perfection as filmmaking gets. A scene where the lead characters witnesses a rather shabby-sounding orchestra and gives his honest opinion to the aghast players is absolutely shattering. I know this review is all over the place. I don’t want to share any of the plot. Just watch it and be transported into the fervid brain of a true auteur.
6 out of 13 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
Waste of time.
I can’t even understand how people were convinced to participate in the making of such a useless project . Stay away.
26 out of 61 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink