Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- None
- abrasive
- discomfiting
- restless
- arthouse film night
- festival cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s audacious, infectious formal energy and incisive engagement with nationalism and cultural assimilation.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Yoav rejects Hebrew, memorizes French vocabulary, and attempts to embody an idealized Frenchness through language and behavior.
The film’s treatment of nationalism, Israeli identity, assimilation, and belonging is charged with audacious, discomfiting energy.
Yoav’s extreme physicality, obsessive routines, and volatile interactions make psychological displacement visible in the body.
Yoav arrives in Paris convinced France can save him and seeks to erase his Jewish-Israeli origins completely.
Films like Synonyms, and why
The Other Side of Hope
shared alienation, national identity conflict, and abrasive yet energetic art-house drama
L'Auberge Espagnole
shared immigrant dislocation, cultural displacement, and deadpan social observation
The Double Life of Véronique
shared identity reinvention, unstable belonging, and formally restless European drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Nadav Lapid
- Release Date
- 2019-02-28
- Runtime
- 123 min
- Rating
- 5.7 / 10 (150)
Cast
- Tom Mercier
- Quentin Dolmaire
- Louise Chevillotte
- Uria Hayik
- Olivier Loustau
- Yehuda Almagor
- Léa Drucker
- Gaya von Schwarze
- Gal Amitai
- Idan Ashkenazi
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Kino Film Collection
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Synonyms about?
- A volatile Israeli expatriate tries to reinvent himself as French, only to collide with the contradictions of language, nationalism, and belonging.
- What is Synonyms like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Synonyms as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Synonyms violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Synonyms.
- What did critics think of Synonyms?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s audacious, infectious formal energy and incisive engagement with nationalism and cultural assimilation.
- Which films are like Synonyms?
- Films with a similar feel include The Other Side of Hope, L'Auberge Espagnole, and The Double Life of Véronique.
- How long is Synonyms?
- Synonyms runs 123 minutes.
- Where can I watch Synonyms?
- In United States, Synonyms streams on Kino Film Collection.
