Berlin film fest winner Nadav Lapid brings Golden Bear home
Amid congratulations for ‘Synonyms,’ a highly autobiographical story, filmmaker urges Israelis to draw their own conclusions about the film
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Filmmaker Nadav Lapid arrived in Israel Sunday following his triumphant win of the Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear for his film “Synonyms,” ready to share his probing Parisian tale of identity with the Israeli public.
The highly autobiographical film, Lapid’s third, tells the story of a young Israeli who lands in Paris, determined to shed his Israeli identity and become fully French.
Named for the main character’s desire to leave behind the Hebrew language and his penchant for muttering French words while walking the streets of Paris, “Synonyms” was called “deliriously unpredictable and enthrallingly impenetrable,” by Variety, as well as “an excoriation of Israel’s militant machismo and a self-teasing parody of Parisian stereotypes, embodied by actor Tom Mercier in this astonishingly audacious debut.”
“I don’t see myself as an ambassador of the State of Israel and never saw myself that way,” said Lapid at a press conference. “That said, what’s happening now is very moving. We just arrived by plane and we were congratulated by each person on the plane. At my bar mitzvah, no one praised me that way.”
“Synonyms,” which won a first-ever Golden Bear for Israel, is an Israeli, French and German production.
Lapid said that he had received condolences from the Culture Ministry when his mother, film editor Era Lapid, died of cancer during the film’s production. Lapid’s father, Chaim Lapid, was the film’s scriptwriter.
“I appreciated it very much, and I say it frankly because I assume that my mother’s opinions were completely contrary to the views of Minister Regev,” said Lapid. “In this way, she showed that as culture minister she cherished people of culture, whether they were in her camp or not. I have a lot of criticism for her, but I’d love for her to watch the film from beginning to end and offer her opinion. I am no less interested in showing my films to people whose opinions differ from mine. ”
Culture Minister Miri Regev had offered conditional congratulations for Lapid’s win, saying that no one from her office had yet seen it and therefore could not comment on whether the film’s ideas were disloyal to the State of Israel and its symbols and values. Regev has been an outspoken critic of Israeli artists who have displayed what she considers to be disloyalty to the state.
Lapid’s mother’s cancer was discovered two days after the start of filming, he said. He said that though they had spoken every day, she chose not to tell him about her illness as it would have brought the filming to a halt.
He sees his mother in the film, Lapid said.
He stressed that he’s not afraid of public debate about the film, “because it tries to get to deep places; beyond the public political debate, it gets to very deep questions of identity or Israeli identity, how we’ve become who we are and what that says about us.
“I hope everyone sees the film, and lets the movie lead them,” said Lapid. “I hope they will watch it and allow it to envelop them, and then decide if they’re for or against it, and think about what they want to get out of it. Will they love it? I hope so. Will they hate it? That’s also okay.”
“Synonyms” opens February 28 in Israeli theaters.
