In his first screen role, Tom Mercier plays Yoav, a disaffected young Israeli who flees Tel Aviv for Paris to start a new life. Desperate to erase his origins, Yoav sees becoming French as his only hope for salvation. He constantly consults his dictionary in an effort to stop speaking Hebrew, but finds working at the Israeli embassy is a distraction. Preparing for the French naturalisation test also has its pitfalls, while the young couple he befriends have some strange ideas about how to help him. Based on writer-director Nadav Lapid’s own experiences, Synonymes explores the challenges of putting down roots in a new place, as Yoav’s attempts to find himself awaken past demons and open up an existential abyss…Read More »
