Synonyms

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.