“Intense, feverish, unhinged, deranged, digressive, implacable, impressive. A unique and bristling take on the Paris experience.”

“Another standout in the [NYFF] main slate is Synonyms, a furious, at times splenetically funny squirm-a-thon."

"Deliriously unpredictable... audacious. Breathtaking in the way it careens from one scene to the next in a whirlwind of personal and political meaning. [An] uncategorizable cinematic trip."

“A portrait of an ex-pat that conjures the freedom of beginning a new life from the ground up and benefits from having a lead that leans into his role 110%.”

“[Lapid’s] filmmaking is so powerfully charged, so utterly confident, so in command of its resources and outcomes... Mercier projects a feral intensity, a boundless energy that’s frightening in its freedom.”

"Mercier gives an exquisitely intense performance, while Lapid's camera careens, never allowing the audience to get comfortable. It's a poetic saga about nationality rooted in a deep frustration with Lapid's home country.”

"Bracingly poignant, touching, moving, as well as profound, penetrating, perceptive and astute. Newcomer Tom Mercier is a revelation, awkward and confident in equal measure, bursting the frame with his exuberant mayhem. Synonyms redefines the personal journey of discovery.”

“As an exercise in depicting the disjointed link between national and personal identity, Synonyms is dazzling. As a portrait of displacement in a world becoming both more globalized and more nationalistic, it is a testament.”