Synecdoche, New York
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| - | :''[[Passion Paradox]], [[existential therapy]] '' | + | :''[[existential film]]'' |
| - | '''Existentialism''' is a [[philosophical movement]] in which individual human beings are understood as having full responsibility for creating the meanings of their own lives. It is a reaction against more traditional philosophies, such as [[rationalism]] and [[empiricism]], which sought to discover an ultimate order in [[metaphysics|metaphysical principles]] or in the structure of the observed world. The movement had its origins in the [[19th century]] thought of [[Soren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] and was prevalent in [[Continental philosophy]] in the [[20th century]]. In the [[1940s]] and [[1950s]], French philosophers such as [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Simone de Beauvoir]], and [[Albert Camus]] wrote scholarly and fictional works that helped to popularize themes associated with existentialism: [[angst]], [[boredom]], [[alienation]], the [[absurd]], [[freedom]], [[commitment]], [and] [[nothingness]]. | + | |
| - | ==== Film ==== | + | |
| - | :''[[philosophical film]], [[existential film]]'' | + | |
| - | Existential themes have been evident throughout 20th century cinema. Many films portray characters going through the "[[existential dilemma]]" or existential problems. Existential movies are those which have plots that deal with subjects such as [[dread]], [[boredom]], [[nothingness]], [[anxiety]], [[alienation]] and [[the absurd]]. | + | |
| - | A number of 1940s and 1950s-era films explored existential themes, including the US [[film noir]] genre, which explored the ambiguous moral dilemmas of people drawn into the gangster underworld. Film noirs tend to revolve around heroes who are more flawed and morally questionable than the norm, often fall guys of one sort or another. The characteristic heroes of noir are described by many critics as "alienated" and "filled with existential bitterness." (Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth Ward, eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style). Film noir is often described as essentially pessimistic. The noir stories that are regarded as most characteristic tell of people trapped in unwanted situations (which, in general, they did not cause but are responsible for exacerbating), striving against random, uncaring fate, and frequently doomed. The movies are seen as depicting a world that is inherently corrupt. Classic film noir has been associated by many critics with the American social landscape of the era—in particular, with a sense of heightened anxiety and alienation that is said to have followed World War II. | + | '''''Synecdoche, New York''''' is a [[2008 in film|2008]] [[Cinema of the United States|American]] film written and directed by [[Charlie Kaufman]]. It premiered in competition at the [[2008 Cannes Film Festival|61st Annual Cannes Film Festival]] on May 23, 2008 and went into limited theatrical release in the US on October 24, 2008. |
| - | Existentialist themes were also present in other genres. The French director [[Jean Genet]]'s 1950 fantasy-erotic film ''[[Un chant d'amour]]'' shows two inmates in solitary cells whose only contact is through a hole in their cell wall, who are spied on by the prison warden. Reviewer James Travers calls the film a "...visual poem evoking homosexual desire and existentialist suffering" which "... conveys the bleakness of an existence in a godless universe with painful believability"; he calls it "... probably the most effective fusion of existentialist philosophy and cinema." | + | The film marks the directorial debut of Kaufman, who is known for his screenplays for the reality-bending films ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'', ''[[Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind]]'', and ''[[Adaptation.]]''. |
| + | ==Plot== | ||
| + | Theater director Caden Cotard finds his life unraveling. Suffering from numerous physical ailments and growing increasingly alienated from his wife, Adele, he hits bottom when Adele leaves him for a new life in [[Berlin]], taking their daughter, Olive, with her. | ||
| - | [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s 1957 anti-war film ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' has been said to illustrate existentialism by examining the absurdity of the human condition and the [[horror of war]]. The film tells the story of a fictional World War I French army regiment which is ordered to attack an impregnable German stronghold; when the attack fails, three soldiers are chosen at random, court-martialed by a "kangaroo court", and executed by firing squad. | + | Shortly afterward, Caden unexpectedly receives a [[MacArthur Fellowship]], giving him the financial means to pursue his artistic interests. He is determined to use it to create an artistic piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can pour his whole self. Gathering an ensemble cast into an enormous warehouse in [[Manhattan]]'s theater district, he directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives. As the mockup inside the warehouse grows increasingly [[mimetic]] of the city outside, Caden continues to look for solutions to his personal crises. He is [[Psychological trauma|traumatized]] as he discovers Adele has become a celebrated painter in Berlin and Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria. After a disastrous fling with the woman who mans the box office, Hazel, he marries Claire, an actress in his cast. Their relationship ultimately fails, however, and he continues his awkward relationship with Hazel, who is by now married with children. Meanwhile, an unknown condition is systematically shutting down his [[Autonomic nervous system|autonomic]] functions one by one. |
| - | On the lighter side, the British comedy troupe [[Monty Python]] have explored existential themes throughout their works, from many of the sketches in their original television show, the ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus|Flying Circus]]'', to their last major release and the 1983 film ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life|The Meaning of Life]]''. Of the many adjectives (some listed in the introduction above) that might indicate an existential tone, the one utilized the most by the group is that of the absurd. | + | As the years rapidly pass, the continually expanding warehouse is isolated from the deterioration of the city outside. Caden buries himself ever deeper into his [[magnum opus]], blurring the line between the world of the play and that of reality by populating the cast and crew with [[doppelgänger]]s. For instance, Sammy Barnathan is cast in the role of Caden in the play after Sammy reveals that he has been obsessively following Caden for 20 years, while Sammy's lookalike is cast as Sammy. Sammy's own interest in Hazel sparks a revival of Caden's relationship with her. |
| - | Some contemporary films dealing with existential issues include ''[[Fight Club]]'', ''[[Waking Life]]'', and ''[[Ordinary People]]''. Likewise, films throughout the 20th century such as ''[[Taxi Driver]]'', ''[[High Noon]]'', ''[[Easy Rider]]'', ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'', ''[[The Seventh Seal]]'', ''[[Ikiru]]'', ''[[I ♥ Huckabees]]'', and ''[[Blade Runner]]'' also have existential qualities. Notable directors known for their existentialist films include [[Ingmar Bergman]], [[François Truffaut]], [[Jean-Luc Godard]], [[Michelangelo Antonioni]], [[Akira Kurosawa]], [[Stanley Kubrick]], [[Andrei Tarkovsky]], and [[Woody Allen]]. [[Charlie Kaufman]]'s ''[[Synecdoche, New York]]'' focuses on the protagonist's desire to find existential meaning in life as he sees its end. | + | As he pushes the limits of his relationships personally and professionally, Caden lets an actress take over his role as director and takes on her previous role as Ellen, Adele's cleaning lady. He lives out his days in the model of Adele's apartment under the replacement director's instruction during which some unexplained (and likely in-universe) calamity occurs in the warehouse leaving ruins and bodies in its wake. Finally he prepares for death as he rests his head on the shoulder of an actress who had previously played Ellen's mother, seemingly the only person left alive in the warehouse. As the scene fades to gray, Caden says that now he has an idea for how to do the play, when the director's voice in his ear gives him his final cue: "Die." |
| + | ==Cast== | ||
| + | * [[Philip Seymour Hoffman]] as Caden Cotard | ||
| + | * [[Catherine Keener]] as Adele Lack | ||
| + | * [[Samantha Morton]] as Hazel | ||
| + | * [[Hope Davis]] as Madeleine Gravis | ||
| + | * [[Tom Noonan]] as Sammy Barnathan, Caden's double | ||
| + | * [[Emily Watson]] as Tammy, Hazel's double | ||
| + | * [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] as Maria | ||
| + | * [[Dianne Wiest]] as Millicent Weems (who plays Ellen Bascomb and another of Caden's doubles) | ||
| + | * [[Michelle Williams (actress)|Michelle Williams]] as Claire Keen | ||
| + | * [[Deirdre O'Connell (actress)|Deirdre O'Connell]] as Mrs. Bascomb | ||
| + | * [[Robin Weigert]] as Olive Cotard, Caden's adult daughter | ||
| + | * Sadie Goldstein as 4-year-old Olive | ||
| + | * [[Josh Pais]] as Ophthalmologist | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==[[Miniature painting]]s and the impossible warehouse== | ||
| + | :Both Caden and Adele are artists, and the scale on which both of them work becomes increasingly relevant to the story as the film progresses. Adele works on an extremely small scale, while Caden works on an impossibly large scale, constructing a full-size replica of New York City in a warehouse, and eventually a warehouse within that warehouse, and so on, continuing in this impossible cycle. Adele's name is almost a [[mondegreen]] for "a delicate art" (Adele Lack Cotard). Commenting on the scale of the paintings, Kaufman said, "In [Adele's] studio at the beginning of the movie you can see some small but regular-sized paintings that you could see without a magnifying glass ... By the time [Caden] goes to the gallery to look at her work, which is many years later, you can't see them at all." He continued, "As a dream image it appeals to me. Her work is in a way much more effective than Caden's work. Caden's goal in his attempt to do his sprawling theater piece is to impress Adele because he feels so lacking next to her in terms of his work," and added, "Caden's work is so literal. The only way he can reflect reality in his mind is by imitating it full-size .... It's a dream image but he's not interacting with it successfully." | ||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
| + | * [[Cotard delusion]] | ||
| + | * [[Anomie]] | ||
| + | * [[Map–territory relation]] | ||
| + | * [[Droste effect]] | ||
| - | * [[Existential despair]] | ||
| - | * [[Existential humanism]] | ||
| - | * [[Existentiell]] | ||
| - | * [[List of major thinkers and authors associated with Existentialism]] | ||
| - | * [[Lightness]] | ||
| - | * [[Meaning of Life]] | ||
| - | * ''[[I Heart Huckabees]]'' | ||
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
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Synecdoche, New York is a 2008 American film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. It premiered in competition at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2008 and went into limited theatrical release in the US on October 24, 2008.
The film marks the directorial debut of Kaufman, who is known for his screenplays for the reality-bending films Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Adaptation..
Contents |
[edit]
Plot
Theater director Caden Cotard finds his life unraveling. Suffering from numerous physical ailments and growing increasingly alienated from his wife, Adele, he hits bottom when Adele leaves him for a new life in Berlin, taking their daughter, Olive, with her.
Shortly afterward, Caden unexpectedly receives a MacArthur Fellowship, giving him the financial means to pursue his artistic interests. He is determined to use it to create an artistic piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can pour his whole self. Gathering an ensemble cast into an enormous warehouse in Manhattan's theater district, he directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives. As the mockup inside the warehouse grows increasingly mimetic of the city outside, Caden continues to look for solutions to his personal crises. He is traumatized as he discovers Adele has become a celebrated painter in Berlin and Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria. After a disastrous fling with the woman who mans the box office, Hazel, he marries Claire, an actress in his cast. Their relationship ultimately fails, however, and he continues his awkward relationship with Hazel, who is by now married with children. Meanwhile, an unknown condition is systematically shutting down his autonomic functions one by one.
As the years rapidly pass, the continually expanding warehouse is isolated from the deterioration of the city outside. Caden buries himself ever deeper into his magnum opus, blurring the line between the world of the play and that of reality by populating the cast and crew with doppelgängers. For instance, Sammy Barnathan is cast in the role of Caden in the play after Sammy reveals that he has been obsessively following Caden for 20 years, while Sammy's lookalike is cast as Sammy. Sammy's own interest in Hazel sparks a revival of Caden's relationship with her.
As he pushes the limits of his relationships personally and professionally, Caden lets an actress take over his role as director and takes on her previous role as Ellen, Adele's cleaning lady. He lives out his days in the model of Adele's apartment under the replacement director's instruction during which some unexplained (and likely in-universe) calamity occurs in the warehouse leaving ruins and bodies in its wake. Finally he prepares for death as he rests his head on the shoulder of an actress who had previously played Ellen's mother, seemingly the only person left alive in the warehouse. As the scene fades to gray, Caden says that now he has an idea for how to do the play, when the director's voice in his ear gives him his final cue: "Die."
[edit]
Cast
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard
- Catherine Keener as Adele Lack
- Samantha Morton as Hazel
- Hope Davis as Madeleine Gravis
- Tom Noonan as Sammy Barnathan, Caden's double
- Emily Watson as Tammy, Hazel's double
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Maria
- Dianne Wiest as Millicent Weems (who plays Ellen Bascomb and another of Caden's doubles)
- Michelle Williams as Claire Keen
- Deirdre O'Connell as Mrs. Bascomb
- Robin Weigert as Olive Cotard, Caden's adult daughter
- Sadie Goldstein as 4-year-old Olive
- Josh Pais as Ophthalmologist
[edit]
Miniature paintings and the impossible warehouse
- Both Caden and Adele are artists, and the scale on which both of them work becomes increasingly relevant to the story as the film progresses. Adele works on an extremely small scale, while Caden works on an impossibly large scale, constructing a full-size replica of New York City in a warehouse, and eventually a warehouse within that warehouse, and so on, continuing in this impossible cycle. Adele's name is almost a mondegreen for "a delicate art" (Adele Lack Cotard). Commenting on the scale of the paintings, Kaufman said, "In [Adele's] studio at the beginning of the movie you can see some small but regular-sized paintings that you could see without a magnifying glass ... By the time [Caden] goes to the gallery to look at her work, which is many years later, you can't see them at all." He continued, "As a dream image it appeals to me. Her work is in a way much more effective than Caden's work. Caden's goal in his attempt to do his sprawling theater piece is to impress Adele because he feels so lacking next to her in terms of his work," and added, "Caden's work is so literal. The only way he can reflect reality in his mind is by imitating it full-size .... It's a dream image but he's not interacting with it successfully."
[edit]
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Synecdoche, New York" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
