- The Guardian,
- Saturday May 24 2008
Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams and Samantha Morton arrive for the premiere of 'Synecdoche, New York'. Photograph: Christophe Karaba/EPA
It might go down as the film no one can pronounce: Synecdoche, New York, or sin-eck-do-key. It might also be the film not many people really understood.
Charlie Kaufman, one of the most inventive screenwriters (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich), arrived in Cannes with his directorial debut starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton and Michelle Williams.
Kaufman knew people would find the title tricky. "I like titles which are a little difficult, it's kind of counterintuitive. With my last movie I called it Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind because it was really hard to remember and then everyone seems to know it now. People will learn how to pronounce another word and that's always good, right?"
Morton admitted she found the title difficult, while Hoffman had the only go at pronouncing it. "Once you know it, it's quite hard to forget it, actually. That's the good thing about it."
Kaufman added that if you know how to pronounce Schenectady, the New York city where the film is based, then you would be able to pronounce Synecdoche. Aside from its name, the film itself is not easy to describe.
Hoffman plays a theatre director whose life is disintegrating. He begins work on a new project which involves putting his life and world on a vast theatre stage. Hundreds of actors are involved. At one point someone says they've been rehearsing for 17 years and they're still not ready to open the play. What is real, what is created and what is metaphor is deliberately blurred.
Kaufman said: "I write what I'm thinking about at the time that I'm writing. I was thinking about issues of life, of getting older, of dying, of illness. How it turned out is how it turned out."
Hoffman had a stab at summarising the movie: "It's about a lot of things. I really don't want to put the movie into a sentence, but there is a sense of continuous heartbreak that you can't put your finger on. I don't know how to say it, but I know what I mean. The screenplay was one of the best I've ever read, easy."
All the actors praised Kaufman's first-time directorial skills. Morton said: "I've worked with people who ... haven't got a clue about actors or people ... communication is important when working with intelligent people, as opposed to people who want to stand in front of a camera and promote their egos."
Morton said Kaufman empowered her to own her character, something very rare in film. "I just felt so alive making this film, more than I ever have."
Synedoche, New York has a good chance of winning the Palme d'Or tomorrow, with there being no frontrunner in what critics are calling a good, but not outstanding, year. That is reflected in the marketplace, where sales have faltered. There is a palpable sense of 2008 not being a vintage one for movies.
