Although there are a million different ways to analyze this movie, and I appreciated Amy's thoughts very much, I do think the part about the therapist putting Caden on the website to market her book is way off the mark. There is a recurring theme throughout the movie of Caden injecting himself into the media he sees. For instance, in a commercial for a chemotherapy drug, Caden is a part of the commercial. This was before he had any form of diagnosis, so it's very clear that he was not actually filmed, but rather, he imagines himself in it. Caden is also drawn out in a children's cartoon at one point. (Interestingly, the same cartoon is playing at the beginning of the film and the content is obviously that of Caden's imagining, discussing viruses and avian flu immediately after he read the newspaper article about it.) It seems the therapist's website for her book is continuing along with that theme. I would not be surprised at all if Kaufman were riffing off of post-structuralist theory, here, which is basically a fancy literary way of saying that each person interprets what they read/see differently and experiences a work of art in a way that no other person can, in ways that the author may not have intended. Funnily enough, a big essay on the subject is Barthes' "Death of the Author" essay, which fits in way too perfectly into the themes of this film to be a coincidence...Caden is the author, he's either dying or thinks he's dying, and Kaufman has stated in interviews that he does not want to give any interpretation to his film because he wants the viewers to come up with their own ideas. Post-structuralism to the letter. I do wonder if part of this film's mission is bending post-structuralist theory to its very limit, until it breaks. If we all were as subjective as Caden, and the things we read and the movies we watch were completely tailored to our own experiences, to the point that the original author's intention does not even matter because we've all rewritten it in our heads anyhow, then what's the point of making art? It becomes masturbatory at that point, and like Caden, self-absorbed and self-immolating. However, through his art, he eventually makes the connection with the actress who plays Ellen, really his first truly empathetic connection in the whole movie, and we assume, the only part of the movie where we see a reality that is someone else's and not Caden's. Maybe Kaufman is taking post-structuralism another step forward, beyond the death of the author, and to the death of the reader. (Or maybe more apt in this case, viewer.) When our interpretation of art (and really of reality as a whole) ceases to be our main mode of understanding, and instead we focus on understanding others and their interpretations, a whole new world opens up. Caden's fear of death goes hand in hand with his self-obsession, after all, he's the only thing he's got...after empathizing with the actress who plays Ellen, however, he has a spiritual rebirth in hand with his physical death. (Shortly before he dies at the end of the film, there's a pretty obvious cue of that when he comes through a womb-like slit in a plastic sheet.) Man, I could go on and on about this movie! Maybe my favorite of all time.
This movie is so.. grand, beautiful, moving, scary, poignant, like thousand movies put into a 2-hours run time, but still.. It somehow works not only okay, but presents a vision of a movie that's absolute: Charlie's magnum opus. My favourite, beloved film of all times.
thank you for the review. Just one small thing. The quote about unhappy marriages is not Checkov's, but it's a first sentence of "Anna Karenina" by Lev Tolstoy.
I really wish I'd seen this film & Memories of Murder upon initial release. Both were so hyped up in my mind for years. I recently saw both films & wish I could have Eternally Sunshined my Spotless Mind prior to watching them to clear out all preconceived notions. Both films are great but didn't live up to my impossible 15-20 year expectations of being told they are masterpieces. This is not an indictment of the quality of either film but but an observation of how unrealistic expectations can potentially ruin a film experience. Rant over. Have a great day. PS. Time Crimes is awesome! Thanks for all the recommendations over the years Dave Chen.
With a film like Synecdoche, I suppose it's inevitable that I'd disagree with you about many of the things you said, but one of the things I'm more certain than others that you're wrong about is how you interpreted Caden reacting to the news about Harold Pinter, which, I'm pretty sure was merely a reference to this Sky News gaffe: Sky News - Harold Pinter blooper | where the Sky News TV presenter said Harold Pinter had died, and then immediately corrected to saying that he had won the Nobel Prize.
I interpreted the funeral in the play as Caden's and that from then on he plays his replacement Ellen and gets to see a life from somebody else's perspective and further realises that everyone is the lead character in their life
Hazel notices it's the house burning bug accepts it as a her as a positive thing, not overwhelmed by death, understands it her choice. Why didn't extra save sammy (cadens mind is self interested) Even unhappy people are united
there where 3 books!!! kidding, nice review!i dont think it was really a "tough" movie,just because it's not realistic.the themes are reinforced throughout the movie and are relatively simple and universal. Also,the scenes where Caden's health gets worse could be a metaphor for his mental state (ex: the psychosis-sycosis scene,and the doctor saying "the eyes are part of the brain")
I always thought it was a study partially on familial relationships and divorce in the eyes of a single father. It paints the picture of increasing distance between Father and child through the hyperbole of Caden's relationship with his daughter. It is shown that Caden never sees his daughter and when he does he has to see her through a "glass window" parading her self to strange in provocative-heavily-sexualize attire. Because reality is not expected to be constant in this film (i.e. the burning house) perhaps even this is a reflection of Caden's real life, this version of the truth through Caden's exaggeration show how the modern family ostracizes the father in broken families. This feeds on to Olive's death scene in which they literally speaking different languages as they have become so alien to each other. Another thing is the burning house, i feel the house is an archetype of the nuclear family we live in a house and there's a mother and a father and their children. Perhaps it is a note on how people lock themselves into relationships or roles even though they know it is doomed to fall apart.
Kingportable this movie feels more like a jungian trip of individuation/discovering his true self. There are the women who represent his anima ei: hazel and there is the wise old man who is Sammy (notice he never gets older) but he seems to also be the child, the trickster. Note also that his therapist says to him " I guess you'll have to discover your your true self)
No. No no no. So many times no. Not sure why I watched part 2 after part 1 was so off the mark. Cotard and Capgras aren't "very tiny side notes" they are dead giveaways of how Caden feels about how he has lived his life. How could you not pick up on the fact that he doesn't see a therapist and that he just reads self help junk? "She's also a creator"...I laughed out loud at how far off the mark this was. Kauffman made it very very obvious that she was somebody he was reading and that her representation as an active therapist was Caden's projection. He doesn't take on Milicents memories. They are his &^%$ing memories. He was so tortured by his duality...so desperate to reconcile his choices that he finally imagined himself a woman. It's not a coincidence or a throwaway that Milicent was in bed with an indifferent Eric. Think about this movie like the plot of David Lynch's "Lost Highway" all the layers created are Caden coming to terms with his life choices and how his failure to understand everything is his curse and makes him *feel* as helpless as somebody with the aforementioned side note conditions. No matter how the OJ Simpson Character in the Lost Highway reinvents himself...he can't reconcile the horrible thing he did to his wife. No matter how Caden re imagines his life...he can't come to terms with his choices. The three women in his life share elements of his lover Eric, his wife and his mother. But mostly his wife. They are NOT three different lovers. When he ran into Hazel...he was just reminded of Adele. When he left Claire...he was leaving Adele. He abandoned his wife who was suffering with lung cancer. He abandoned his daughter, even though he had such a special day with his mother that he promised to repeat with his daughter. He was so absorbed with his life that he missed everything and screwed it all up. Then he killed himself. That's it. That's the plot. The author doesn't have to feel guilty (I laughed out loud again)...she blew it bad. Got the overall point of the flick...which was clearly spoonfed to us by the minister, but missed alllll the subtext.
+Buck Starwell Although I really like your analysis, you have to remember, the director made this movie purposely open ended for YOU to interpret YOUR meaning of the film, not necessarily something set in stone. There are some clues to seem to me that they're in some sort of purgatory, and what Sammy did was the real representation of what happened to him Another thing I found interesting was when was the timeline of him transitioning to a woman? If you remember in his car on the radio, the arthritis treatment he received after leaving Germany supposedly damaged his chromosomes. It wasn't until after Olive was almost 11, or was it as Olive said on her deathbed, that he was gay, and transitioned later? and he was awarded 1.3 something billion dollars, which somewhat explains the absurd amount of money it has to take to upkeep his production. It is essentially a walled off "nicer" community compared to the outside. That was something that bothered me until my third watch of the movie, was how much money it must take to build this place.
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see. the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist. one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death. since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see. the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist. one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death. since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see. the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist. one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death. since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
They didn't comment about the wifes art becoming smaller, while cadens became larger and larger.
or that scene where they kept subtly flashing images of my mother and childhood bully, while he couldn't get his erection.
What @@jooziejacuzi
Although there are a million different ways to analyze this movie, and I appreciated Amy's thoughts very much, I do think the part about the therapist putting Caden on the website to market her book is way off the mark. There is a recurring theme throughout the movie of Caden injecting himself into the media he sees. For instance, in a commercial for a chemotherapy drug, Caden is a part of the commercial. This was before he had any form of diagnosis, so it's very clear that he was not actually filmed, but rather, he imagines himself in it. Caden is also drawn out in a children's cartoon at one point. (Interestingly, the same cartoon is playing at the beginning of the film and the content is obviously that of Caden's imagining, discussing viruses and avian flu immediately after he read the newspaper article about it.) It seems the therapist's website for her book is continuing along with that theme.
I would not be surprised at all if Kaufman were riffing off of post-structuralist theory, here, which is basically a fancy literary way of saying that each person interprets what they read/see differently and experiences a work of art in a way that no other person can, in ways that the author may not have intended. Funnily enough, a big essay on the subject is Barthes' "Death of the Author" essay, which fits in way too perfectly into the themes of this film to be a coincidence...Caden is the author, he's either dying or thinks he's dying, and Kaufman has stated in interviews that he does not want to give any interpretation to his film because he wants the viewers to come up with their own ideas. Post-structuralism to the letter. I do wonder if part of this film's mission is bending post-structuralist theory to its very limit, until it breaks. If we all were as subjective as Caden, and the things we read and the movies we watch were completely tailored to our own experiences, to the point that the original author's intention does not even matter because we've all rewritten it in our heads anyhow, then what's the point of making art? It becomes masturbatory at that point, and like Caden, self-absorbed and self-immolating. However, through his art, he eventually makes the connection with the actress who plays Ellen, really his first truly empathetic connection in the whole movie, and we assume, the only part of the movie where we see a reality that is someone else's and not Caden's. Maybe Kaufman is taking post-structuralism another step forward, beyond the death of the author, and to the death of the reader. (Or maybe more apt in this case, viewer.) When our interpretation of art (and really of reality as a whole) ceases to be our main mode of understanding, and instead we focus on understanding others and their interpretations, a whole new world opens up. Caden's fear of death goes hand in hand with his self-obsession, after all, he's the only thing he's got...after empathizing with the actress who plays Ellen, however, he has a spiritual rebirth in hand with his physical death. (Shortly before he dies at the end of the film, there's a pretty obvious cue of that when he comes through a womb-like slit in a plastic sheet.) Man, I could go on and on about this movie! Maybe my favorite of all time.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Really great comment.
This movie is so.. grand, beautiful, moving, scary, poignant, like thousand movies put into a 2-hours run time, but still.. It somehow works not only okay, but presents a vision of a movie that's absolute: Charlie's magnum opus. My favourite, beloved film of all times.
thank you for the review. Just one small thing. The quote about unhappy marriages is not Checkov's, but it's a first sentence of "Anna Karenina" by Lev Tolstoy.
Thats Tolstoy, not Chekhov. From Anna Karenina.
I really wish I'd seen this film & Memories of Murder upon initial release. Both were so hyped up in my mind for years. I recently saw both films & wish I could have Eternally Sunshined my Spotless Mind prior to watching them to clear out all preconceived notions. Both films are great but didn't live up to my impossible 15-20 year expectations of being told they are masterpieces. This is not an indictment of the quality of either film but but an observation of how unrealistic expectations can potentially ruin a film experience. Rant over. Have a great day.
PS. Time Crimes is awesome! Thanks for all the recommendations over the years Dave Chen.
very interesting analysis.
The quote isn't from Chekhov, it's from Teolstoy.
Wow, your analysis is so detailed. Very interesting interpretation, and I can't wait to give it another look.
great analysis! i loved the film and learned a lot more after seeing this analysis.
With a film like Synecdoche, I suppose it's inevitable that I'd disagree with you about many of the things you said, but one of the things I'm more certain than others that you're wrong about is how you interpreted Caden reacting to the news about Harold Pinter, which, I'm pretty sure was merely a reference to this Sky News gaffe: Sky News - Harold Pinter blooper | where the Sky News TV presenter said Harold Pinter had died, and then immediately corrected to saying that he had won the Nobel Prize.
I interpreted the funeral in the play as Caden's and that from then on he plays his replacement Ellen and gets to see a life from somebody else's perspective and further realises that everyone is the lead character in their life
Absolutely loved the video
there were three books of the psychiatrist in the ending scene, not just two
Hazel notices it's the house burning bug accepts it as a her as a positive thing, not overwhelmed by death, understands it her choice.
Why didn't extra save sammy (cadens mind is self interested)
Even unhappy people are united
Nice Analysis, really like it.
Where is David's take??
there where 3 books!!! kidding, nice review!i dont think it was really a "tough" movie,just because it's not realistic.the themes are reinforced throughout the movie and are relatively simple and universal.
Also,the scenes where Caden's health gets worse could be a metaphor for his mental state (ex: the psychosis-sycosis scene,and the doctor saying "the eyes are part of the brain")
aannnnd now i need to watch this film again
💚
I always thought it was a study partially on familial relationships and divorce in the eyes of a single father. It paints the picture of increasing distance between Father and child through the hyperbole of Caden's relationship with his daughter. It is shown that Caden never sees his daughter and when he does he has to see her through a "glass window" parading her self to strange in provocative-heavily-sexualize attire. Because reality is not expected to be constant in this film (i.e. the burning house) perhaps even this is a reflection of Caden's real life, this version of the truth through Caden's exaggeration show how the modern family ostracizes the father in broken families. This feeds on to Olive's death scene in which they literally speaking different languages as they have become so alien to each other. Another thing is the burning house, i feel the house is an archetype of the nuclear family we live in a house and there's a mother and a father and their children. Perhaps it is a note on how people lock themselves into relationships or roles even though they know it is doomed to fall apart.
Kingportable this movie feels more like a jungian trip of individuation/discovering his true self. There are the women who represent his anima ei: hazel and there is the wise old man who is Sammy (notice he never gets older) but he seems to also be the child, the trickster. Note also that his therapist says to him " I guess you'll have to discover your your true self)
Interesting but i think you need to elaborate more. Like what even is jungian.
good shit, great interpretation.
I think you got just about everything right except the therapist.
I feel like Sunny is Caden's unconscious, or maybe his Id.
I think it's a mess. I got almost nothing out of it.
No. No no no. So many times no.
Not sure why I watched part 2 after part 1 was so off the mark.
Cotard and Capgras aren't "very tiny side notes" they are dead giveaways of how Caden feels about how he has lived his life.
How could you not pick up on the fact that he doesn't see a therapist and that he just reads self help junk? "She's also a creator"...I laughed out loud at how far off the mark this was. Kauffman made it very very obvious that she was somebody he was reading and that her representation as an active therapist was Caden's projection.
He doesn't take on Milicents memories. They are his &^%$ing memories. He was so tortured by his duality...so desperate to reconcile his choices that he finally imagined himself a woman. It's not a coincidence or a throwaway that Milicent was in bed with an indifferent Eric.
Think about this movie like the plot of David Lynch's "Lost Highway" all the layers created are Caden coming to terms with his life choices and how his failure to understand everything is his curse and makes him *feel* as helpless as somebody with the aforementioned side note conditions. No matter how the OJ Simpson Character in the Lost Highway reinvents himself...he can't reconcile the horrible thing he did to his wife. No matter how Caden re imagines his life...he can't come to terms with his choices.
The three women in his life share elements of his lover Eric, his wife and his mother. But mostly his wife. They are NOT three different lovers. When he ran into Hazel...he was just reminded of Adele. When he left Claire...he was leaving Adele.
He abandoned his wife who was suffering with lung cancer. He abandoned his daughter, even though he had such a special day with his mother that he promised to repeat with his daughter. He was so absorbed with his life that he missed everything and screwed it all up. Then he killed himself. That's it. That's the plot.
The author doesn't have to feel guilty (I laughed out loud again)...she blew it bad. Got the overall point of the flick...which was clearly spoonfed to us by the minister, but missed alllll the subtext.
+Buck Starwell Although I really like your analysis, you have to remember, the director made this movie purposely open ended for YOU to interpret YOUR meaning of the film, not necessarily something set in stone.
There are some clues to seem to me that they're in some sort of purgatory, and what Sammy did was the real representation of what happened to him
Another thing I found interesting was when was the timeline of him transitioning to a woman? If you remember in his car on the radio, the arthritis treatment he received after leaving Germany supposedly damaged his chromosomes. It wasn't until after Olive was almost 11, or was it as Olive said on her deathbed, that he was gay, and transitioned later?
and he was awarded 1.3 something billion dollars, which somewhat explains the absurd amount of money it has to take to upkeep his production. It is essentially a walled off "nicer" community compared to the outside. That was something that bothered me until my third watch of the movie, was how much money it must take to build this place.
+Buck Starwell What movie did you watch?
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see.
the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist.
one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death.
since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see.
the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist.
one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death.
since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
+hydra680 the more that I watched the movie, the more I thought that caden did not die or was in purgatory, but that the original caden is not someone we see.
the massive play was going on before the movie started. that explains the weird dialogue, and all of cadens encounters with the therapist.
one of the biggest themes of this movie is that art imitates life and vice versa. we as human beings need to create meaning to our lives... since we are all hurdling towards death.
since synecdoche is about a part representing the whole: how art represents life, how the play represented the real world, I'm starting to think that charlie Kaufman himself is the "original" caden. it would make sense considering how self-aware the movie is.
This is terrible. Poor insight
Give us your insights.