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Video: Psychological Drama "Synonyms" About The Problems Of Migrants - Reviews
- "Synonyms", 2019, France - Israel - Germany
- Director: Nadav Lapid
- Starring roles: Tom Mercier, Quentin Dolmer, Louise Chevillot
At the Berlin Film Festival, this film was called a sensation, and the filmmaker was called a new star in the genre of psychological drama. The drama really exists from the first hours of the stay of Yoav, a native of Israel, in the best city in the world, Paris
The tension on the screen arises as soon as the alien miraculously enters someone else's apartment, without ceremony, takes a bath and … turns out to be completely naked, all his things have disappeared. Plot moves built on the "bare nerve" make us immediately ask the question: how is the migrant going to conquer Paris further without following the elementary rules of entering a foreign environment? There are no miracles in the world.
But our hero is incredibly lucky, he is literally and figuratively saved by neighbors, first warmed in his own bed, and then dressed in fashionable clothes from Kenzo, gifted materially and spiritually supported. The thing is that a rich young writer Emil and his girlfriend, a musician, miss their unprincipled life and are literally looking for adventure.
A bright mustard-colored coat, an invitingly sounding oboe melody, gatherings in a cafe, and finally a modest apartment rented with the money of benefactors can become symbols of a new life and a launching pad for the transformation of a young man
But complex psychological constructions associated with adaptation arise and disappear without a trace. Yoav cannot understand how to stop being stubborn and cocky and turn into a real Frenchman, he cannot and does not want to accept someone else's culture.
The thing is that our hero seems to be mastering the important lessons that arise in the life of every migrant. He buys a French dictionary, attends special courses where an intelligent and sensitive teacher teaches the correct pronunciation and, most importantly, communication. But in the first case, our Israeli genius reduces everything to looking for synonyms with a negative lexical connotation in the dictionary, we hear him muttering: "obscene, ignorant, disgusting, poor, rude, disgusting …" In the second case, he uses the acquired knowledge with a nervous breakdown in a fight, which he himself started with the musicians of the orchestra, trying to sort out the relationship with the girl.
Yoav even tries to get a job in his "specialty", but does not find a common language with the leadership. And yet, over time, exhausted by the regime of the most severe economy and the need to cook the same modest dish from day to day - pasta, he goes to act in porn films.
Stress, as an inevitable companion of any migrant, goes into a long phase. The psycho-emotional state breaks out of control and leads to strangeness and breakdowns in behavior, incomprehensible to others
And this boy, burnt by an unknown war, who wants to live, not survive, is increasingly turning into a cynic. We are convinced that the hero's degree of empathy is at zero when a father exhausted by the unknown comes to him and finds him after a long search in an unfamiliar city by pure chance, but the son refuses to meet. True, he does not refuse intimate dates with the girlfriend of his best friend and savior, he does not refuse theft and deception …
The subtle settings of human connections are stuck in an alien world and no longer protect the skeptic. Luck, like a phoenix bird, which at first sheltered a young migrant from adversity, saddened, disappeared forever. There is no need to reflect and argue about the emotional motivation of the hero of the film, until the last frames with sympathy we continue to follow his search for synonyms of life in a strange city and see grief and confusion.
Yoav, a victim of circumstances and his own character, painfully hits the white door behind which lives the only friend he betrayed. Everything is dull and useless. The inner world of the hero in a beautiful mustard-colored coat far from his homeland did not find harmony and tranquility. Like thousands of other migrants, he crashed and did not fit into the community of cute Parisians, maybe that's why he shoots Notre Dame with an imaginary pistol and, probably, is crying in his heart. The young man's expectations did not coincide with reality, but the director fulfilled his mission brilliantly.
Adapting in a new country
Migration as a socio-psychological phenomenon has been studied in depth. In their works, scientists (E. Novokhatko, T. Suslova) agree on the following: the adaptation of a migrant depends primarily on the readiness of the individual for self-realization, on the restructuring of the value-semantic model, correction of the forms of behavior that make up the way of life.
A person's psychological satisfaction is becoming an important indicator of adaptation in a new environment. He orients himself freely in the socio-cultural environment
By this time, he already accepts the values, standards of behavior and traditions of the society in which he lives, acquires housing, gets a job. If a person who has arrived in another country participates in the social and cultural life of society, is open to new experience and knowledge, then we can say for sure that he has successfully adapted, psychologists Natalya Lebedeva and Tatyana Soldatova believe.
The motivation of the migrant should be supported by the following actions:
- adaptation to a new culture;
- socialization in a new society;
- mastery of language and cultural traditions;
- mastering the norms of social behavior;
- establishing personal contacts, informal communication;
- compliance of expectations with real living conditions in a new environment;
- positive attitude towards the host population.
