Synecdoche, New York (2008)

A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

Director:

Charlie Kaufman

Writer:

Charlie Kaufman

Stars:

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams

7 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philip Seymour Hoffman	...	Caden Cotard
Catherine Keener	...	Adele Lack
Sadie Goldstein	...	Olive (4 years old)
Tom Noonan	...	Sammy Barnathan
Peter Friedman	...	Emergency Room Doctor
Charles Techman	...	Like Clockwork Patient
Josh Pais	...	Ophthalmologist
Daniel London	...	Tom
Robert Seay	...	David
Michelle Williams	...	Claire Keen
Stephen Adly Guirgis	...	Davis
Samantha Morton	...	Hazel
Hope Davis	...	Madeleine Gravis
Frank Girardeau	...	Plumber
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Maria

Storyline

Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. Fresh off of a successful production of Death of a Salesman, he has traded in the suburban blue-hairs and regional theater of Schenectady for the cultured audiences and bright footlights of Broadway. Armed with a MacArthur grant and determined to create a piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can put his whole self, he gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in Manhattan's theater district. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a small mockup of the city outside. As the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden's own life veers wildly off the tracks. The shadow of his ex-wife Adele, a celebrated painter who left him years ago for Germany's art scene, sneers at him from every corner. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele's friend, Maria. He's helplessly driving his marriage to actress ...

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Plot Keywords:

play | warehouse | actress | director | reality | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexual content/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Océan Films [fr] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

5 February 2009 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

I synekdohi tis Neas Yorkis

Filming Locations:

Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£123,125 (UK) (15 May 2009)

Gross:

£434,718 (UK) (5 June 2009)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Likely Story, Projective Testing Service

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Caden sees Hazel at the box-office, a brief shot reveals she is reading: page 1 of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way, the first book of his multi-volume novel Search of Lost Time. A recurring character throughout Proust's novel is Dr. Cottard, reportedly based somewhat on Proust's own father, a noted physician, and on the Cotard who gives the delusional syndrome its name.

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Goofs

Announcer on the radio at the very beginning says it's 22 September. The newspaper is dated in October, it's Christmas when the sinks smashes his forehead, New Year's on the ride home and March in the ophthalmologist's office. Kaufman afforded his film a dreamlike quality by playing with the representation of time throughout.

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Quotes

Hazel: I like it. I do! I'm - I'm just really concerned about dying in the fire.
Burning House Realtor: It's a big decision - how one prefers to die.

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Connections

Referenced in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Echelon Conspiracy/Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li/Crossing Over (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Auld Lang Syne"
Traditional
Arranged by Jon Brion

User Reviews

Simulation Of Simulacra

In a fit of pretentious grad-school psychobabble I once sarcastically meta-critiqued a fellows students sculpture as being a "simulation of a simulacra" Now looking back at it... I don't think I knew what I was talking about, or why having crafted a "simulation of a simulacra" would have been a bad thing?

After seeing synecdoche new york, I think I now have a tangible example for that expression... and this film is going down as one of my all time favorites! Kaufman & Hoffman are perfect doppelgangers! They certainly complement each other better than Jim Carry, Nicolas Cage or John Malcovich did. Kaufman has illustrated his self-reflexive neurosis in a dark comedic way that has more angst and gravitas than Woody Allen or Michel Gondry. The film was so existential and dark I swear I wanted to cry at the end but was too perplexed. He portrays his life as a play within a play and has created actors to play him self and others to play those playing himself, like a hall of mirrors. There are moments that become so interwoven that even Borges & Baudrillard would have a hard time keeping track of the characters. In certain respects the film reminded me of Shane Carruth's 2004 film Primer, in which the protagonist has multiplied himself into a stupor that he needed to write his own short term crib-notes to figure out what to do next. If you haven't yet seen it .. run don't walk.