Synecdoche, New York

Synecdoche, New York is an American dramedy from the year 2008. Directed by first time Charlie Kaufman, who also wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film.

Action

The hypochondriac theater director Caden Cotard is married and has a four year old daughter. He learns after the premiere of his interpretation of the play Death of a Salesman, that he may have problems with the nervous system. His wife Adele moved with their daughter to Berlin, in order to present an exhibition of her thumbnails. However, it turns out that it does not return even after a long time. Cotard is then a love affair with the friendly ticket lady Hazel.

Through the ceremony as a MacArthur Fellow, is associated with a high prize money to Cotard feels inspired to create a new, great and true play, which is intended to reflect the everyday throughout life. For this he rented a vacant warehouse in Manhattan, where he can rebuild New York as a backdrop and represent the people of his environment by actors. Even after years of work, however it does not succeed in getting to the core of his life and therefore his play, instead the story nested increasingly.

Reviews

Lars- Olav Beier wrote in the magazine Der Spiegel on 23 May 2008, the film was a " sometimes a bit confusing, but sometimes also very moving tragicomedy " as showing their " hypochondriacal heroes " with " a lot of humor ". He was " screamingly funny (...) and deeply sad at the same time ." The American film critic Roger Ebert has named the film the best film of the 2000s.

Awards

  • The film was in 2009 in the category " Best Debut Film" at the Independent Spirit Awards.
  • In 2008, Kaufman's film competed at the 61st Cannes Film Festival for the Golden Palm, remained unprämiert.

Background

The film was shot in New York City, in Schenectady and in Woodlawn (New York). On 23 May 2008, the film was shown at the International Film Festival in Cannes in 2008 as part of the competition. Synecdoche, New York was a commercial failure: At the box office, he only played about 4 million U.S. dollars, while production costs amounted to $ 20 million.

A place called Synecdoche does not exist in New York. The word denotes one hand, the rhetorical figure of synecdoche and on the other hand refers to the city of Schenectady.

2008 in film Film score Jon Brion Frederick Elmes Cotard delusion Palme d'Or Schenectady, New York
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