Everything that I’ve admired about films penned by Charlie Kaufman is the limitless creativity and fearlessness in which the strangeness is unleashed. After Being John Malkovich, Adaptation., and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I figured that there wasn’t really any way Kaufman could surprise me with anything on the screen. That is, until Synecdoche, New York, in which not only does he write the screenplay, but is also given the reigns as director. The result is a film which purposely goes out of its way to make sure that its audience is off-balance.
The entire film is essentially one, huge ambitious metaphor for life. The phrase “synecdoche” means “a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent a whole, or vice versa”, and essentially the story of Caden Cotard (played brilliantly by Philip Seymour Hoffman), is something that stands in place for everybody’s lives. Obsession with death, romantic anxiety, eccentric characters (all Kaufman specialties), are displayed ad nauseum throughout this picture, but its supposed to stand for the pain and romance we all experience.
There’s no way to truly explain the plot competently, because the plot is not necessarily adequately told. Essentially, we follow Caden throughout his life. It begins with Caden directing a re-enactment of Death of a Salesman, in which Claire (Michelle Williams) is his sexy lead actress, and Hazel (Samantha Morton) is his sincere, sweet box office attendant. His marriage to an artist named Adele (Catherine Keener), is on incredibly shaky ground, and she swiftly decides to take their young daughter, Olive, to Belgium with her lover Maria (Jennifer Jason Leigh).
Depressed without his wife and daughter, and disappointed with his lack of romantic success with Hazel, Caden uses a “genius grant” he receives, and decides to begin working on his own play. This is not just another run-of-the-mill play, he wants it to be large, and personal. He wants it to thematically scorch the Earth, and change theater, representing life as it is. Becoming more and more ambitious, and wanting to display realism, his own life spills into the play. His impulsive marriage to Claire is even sabotaged by Caden’s inability to separate the play and reality.
As Caden’s life becomes more and more convoluted between reality and fantasy, so does his play–and so does, quite frankly, the film itself. Minor characters, such as Caden’s stand-in Sammy (Tom Noonan), and Caden’s narcissistic therapist Madeleine (Hope Davis) weave themselves in and out of the movie, with little to no purpose. We are previewed to truly unpleasant images, such as poop on numerous occasions. As soon as you think, as the viewer, you have any kind of grasp on this film, it wrangles its way out of your hands violently and disappears.
Every character, even the reasonably normal ones, have eccentricities. Adele is a famous artist, but paints portraits so small that people have to wear binoculars to the exhibitions. Hazel lives in a house which is constantly on fire, though never burns down. Maria switches on and off between having a German accent and not having one. The biggest quirk in character, though, has to be in the daughter Olive, who starts off as a sweet, precocious young girl, and in no time is transformed in to a German stripper with a pretty exotic body tattoo. I don’t doubt that these quirks have meaning and sub-text, but why make it so frustrating on the audience that has paid good money?
Truth be told, the film is a giant mess throughout, though it may be the most breathtaking giant mess in cinematic history. Kaufman, though taking his oddness and nearly spilling into pretension, does still keep his knack for creating compelling characters. The performances from Hoffman and Morton (the two most centralized characters) are very strong here, and small, supporting turns from Emily Watson and Dianne Wiest (as actresses in the play, respectively) are strong, sometimes funny highlights. No other screenwriter today is better at expressing emotional degradation.
The movie does take advantage of its 124-minute running time, and stretch it out as far as it can go. For a film that purposely makes no sense 75% of the time, this makes it feel particularly longer. Not that there is ever a boring moment, because there is always something alarming or bizarre awaiting in the next scene. You do find yourself curiously connected to Caden throughout his journey, and perhaps you can even buy into Kaufman’s metaphor of Caden’s life being everybody’s life. But it’s obvious that in his directorial debut, Kaufman has no idea how to use restraint. This is the type of film that would make David Lynch fans scratch their heads, and though I feel it is a film that should be watched by everyone, its almost certain that it will not be enjoyed by everyone.
Written and Directed by Charlie Kaufman