The opening scene of Synecdoche"" may appear normal - viewers are introduced to Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the hypochondriac play director, Adele Lask (Catherine Keener), the disinterested wife and Olive (Sadie Goldstein), the inquisitive four-year-old daughter - but ""Synecdoche, New York"" is anything but ordinary.
The film makes the transition to surrealism and existentialism quickly as the plot unfolds (Goldstein asks permission to watch TV, and the cartoon shown features characters relentlessly and scientifically discussing the development of a virus). Ridden with unrequited love, Hoffman's box-office assistant, Hazel (Samantha Morton), buys a house that is literally on fire. The realtor asks if she has questions, and she says apprehensively, ""Well, I'm worried that I'll, you know, die in the fire.""
After his family leaves him, Hoffman receives a MacArthur grant and decides to direct a play about his life and mind. Thereafter the plot gets extremely messy as the actors in the play who are playing characters in the film begin to become entwined with one another. The representation that Cotard strives for in his play becomes indistinguishable from reality, confusing even the principal characters.
Charlie Kaufman, known for his inventive screenplays for some of the most creative films of the last decade (""Being John Malkovich,"" ""Adaptation"" and ""Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind""), follows suit with ""Synecdoche,"" which is his directorial debut.
""Synecdoche, New York"" is as frustrating as it is thought provoking. The film as a whole can be hard to follow when the difference between the characters' perception and reality is increasingly blurred.
To begin to understand the puzzle Kaufman intricately builds, the film title's definition should be clarified. A ""synecdoche"" is a figure of speech where a part represents the whole (i.e. his parents bought him a new set of wheels, meaning a car). In the film, several illustrations of the term can be perceived - literally, Cotard builds a replica of New York City in warehouses for the play. More importantly, though, his life represents everyone's life.
Although a narcissist, Cotard has an important realization while building upon his already massive set. ""There are nearly 13 million people in the world. None of those people is an extra. They're all the leads of their own stories. They have to be given their due,"" he says. Whether he follows his own command is a questionable debate, but the revelation is one explored through decades of time and acres of space through the film.
Hoffman paints an oddly relatable portrait of Cotard as a young, middle-aged and old man. Exceptional performances from the rest of the cast (Keener, Goldstein, Morton, Hope Davis, Dianne Wiest and Emily Watson) accentuate the film's remarkable screenplay, which alternates between sarcastic one-liners and powerful assertions.
Not for the faint of heart or mind, Kaufman pushes audiences to their emotional and mental limits in ""Synecdoche"" from beginning to end.
Grade: A
