Synonyms

Yoav, a young Israeli, arrives in Paris hoping to leave his nationality behind and remake himself as French. He refuses to speak a word of Hebrew, relying instead on a French-Hebrew dictionary as his constant companion, and he keeps his distance from the Israeli embassy. A French couple, Emile and Caroline, take him in and try to help him, though their ideas about how to do so are peculiar. Based on director Nadav Lapid's own experiences, the film follows Yoav's attempts to shed one identity and acquire another.

Synonyms was released in 2019 and runs 123 minutes. It is a comedy-drama co-produced by Germany, Israel and France, with a budget of about 3 million USD. Lapid directed and wrote the screenplay with Haim Lapid; Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt produced. Tom Mercier plays Yoav, with Quentin Dolmaire as Emile, Louise Chevillotte as Caroline, Uria Hayik as Yaron, Olivier Loustau as Michel and Yehuda Almagor as Yoav's father, among 26 credited cast members. In Lapid's filmography the film precedes Yes (2025).

Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.3/10 from around 6,600 votes, and on TMDB 5.7/10 from roughly 149 votes. A critics' rating of 7.3/10 from 92 reviews places professional assessment noticeably above the audience scores.