Synonyms: Nadav Lapid's Berlin-winning slap at Israeli machismo and the French superiority complex is outrageous in the best way

By Liam Lacey

Rating: B-plus

The winner of the Golden Bear top prize at Berlin earlier this year, Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s autobiographical black comedy Synonyms follows the misadventures of Yoav (Tom Mercier), a bullish young former Israeli soldier who runs away to Paris in a rejection of his Israeli identity. The story is based on Lapid’s youth, where he moved to Paris and refused to speak Hebrew.

Yoav (Tom Mercier) and his adoptive bourgeois adoptive French sponsor Caroline (Louise Chevillotte)

,After having all his clothes and other possessions stolen while he’s taking a bath, Yoav finds himself adopted by a rich young couple, a metrosexual trust-fund writer Emile (Quentin Dolmaire) and his oboe-playing girlfriend, Caroline (Louise Chevillotte) who rescue him and adopt him as an exotic plaything, They provide him with emergency cash, a cell-phone and new clothes, including a flashy, somewhat emasculating yellow overcoat.

Meanwhile, Yoav, gets a job at the Israeli consulate, where he refuses to speak Hebrew. The title Synonyms refers to his constant recitation of French words he wants use in place of Hebrew ones. Through his work, Yoav also spends time with Yaron (Uria Hayik), an hyper-aggressive Israeli intelligence agent, who trolls the Metro and tourist bars looking for anti-Semites to fight.

Synonyms free-wheeling episodic structure can grow a tad wearying, but Mercier’s aggressively kinetic performance and Lapid’s take-no-prisoners dismantling of the Israeli macho mystique — or French hypocritical superiority — are, in the best way, outrageous. 

Synonyms. Directed and written by Nadav Lapid. Starring; Tom Mercier, Quentin Dolmaire, Louise Chevillotte. Synonyms can be seen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.