Charlie Kaufman’s 2008 film Synecdoche, New York is a testament to his career as both a screenwriter and a director. It’s a quiet masterpiece from a filmmaker who’s unapologetically existential with his work, exploring the human existence from the position of the absurdist; a position that was modernised by French-Algerian writer Albert Camus. Synecdoche, New York encapsulates Camus’ concept of the absurd, while aligning itself with his iconic 1942 non-fiction essay The Myth of Sisyphus.

Unsurprisingly, Kaufman’s film is comparable to the text in a more unconventional manner; rather than strictly following the chapters and structure of Camus’ essay, Synecdoche, New York’s characters, plot, and filmmaking techniques rearrange the philosopher’s words and hide them intelligently, while keeping their impact and message distinct. Kaufman uses his primary characters and their surroundings to convey passages from The Myth of Sisyphus, whether it be Camus’ Absurd Hero, or his writing on philosophical and physical suicide. Synecdoche, New York undeniably is a tale of humankind’s struggle with purpose, and the bravery it takes to have none in the face of such absurdity. 

The term ‘synecdoche’ is one that is integral to both the film’s narrative, as well as how it is measured against works like The Myth of Sisyphus. It is a noun that uses a part of a whole to represent the whole. For example, referring to a new car as ‘new wheels’ is a synecdoche; it is a term that represents a whole using only a part of the whole. Likewise, referring to the United States government as ‘The White House’, is a synecdoche.

Synecdoche, New York’s playwriting protagonist, Caden Cotard – expertly portrayed by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman – undergoes an existential crisis, leading to him rebuilding the city of New York on a 1:1 scale within an empty warehouse unit to use as a stage for his new, incredibly honest, biographical play (it sounds impossible because it is). What leads to this crisis is an accumulation of occurrences, all of which could fall under Camus’ premise of the absurd due to their unexplainable or unpredictable nature. Caden’s health deteriorates rapidly, and he sees multiple health specialists which all offer him no relief other than that of technical terms he’s too underqualified to understand.

His wife, Adele, also leaves him for reasons that are sudden and unexpected. Amid the absurdity, however, Caden receives a MacArthur grant, a significant sum of money that is given to exceptional creatives to support their endeavours. He uses the grant to direct an autobiographical stage play depicting the absurdities that have led him to this point of existential crisis. The play offers him a distraction from his ill-health, and is something to focus on; Caden assigns this play as his purpose. From this point onwards, the film takes an impossibly surreal turn, as the events Caden is depicting within his play catch up with him, meaning he needs to cast someone to play himself within his own play.

This continues as the play becomes grander by the day and equally as confusing. Across the narrative, Caden falls in love with the many women whom he cast to play his now ex-wife, Adele, as well as appointing an actor called Sammy to shadow and play Caden himself – it’s all quite mind-bending, I like to compare it to a never-ending Matryoshka doll. The play is never finished, and Caden dies, without having completed his masterpiece that he assigned to be his purpose. 

Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus asks the question of how we, as humankind, react to the pointlessness of our existence. Its existentialism is supported by Camus’ the absurd, which is a metaphysical disconnect between a human’s need for meaning, and a world which does satisfy this need. This dizzying territory that’s found after facing our futility is the absurd, and those who laugh in its face are Camus’ ‘Absurd Heroes’. However, before one can become an Absurd Hero, one must weigh-up their options. Camus states that we must pick one of three responses as to how we face the absurd: hope, physical suicide, or acceptance. Hope, or as Camus also frames it: ‘philosophical suicide’, is the subscription to a predetermined structure or obligation, like a religion, that bridges the inexplainable gap between our existence and our purpose. 

Physical suicide is the refusal to live under such conditions, and thus one takes their own life as a result. Finally, acceptance of the absurd, which Camus states is the first step to becoming an Absurd Hero. Camus frames these possibilities with a handful of examples including The Actor and Don Juan, however, his primary canvas for his Absurd Hero is the mythological character of Sisyphus. Greek mythological tales state that Sisyphus is condemned to eternally rolling a boulder up a steep mountain, only for it to roll back to the base each time it reaches the top.

A dreary, dehumanising task, yet Camus claims that Sisyphus is the Absurd Hero, for he knows the futility of his attempts with the boulder, understanding that it will roll back down to the mountain’s base, yet continues to push it anyway. Sisyphus laughs in the face of this absurd punishment and the futility of his existence and manages to find pure joy in it. He wouldn’t roll the boulder if he didn’t find satisfaction in its lack of meaning. As Camus wrote, “one must imagine Sisyphus happy”, because, if he wasn’t, then why would he persist?

Philosophical suicide, or hope, is the rejection of the absurd in favour of a predetermined mindset or code. This could be a theological, spiritual, or even philosophical ideology that offers a bridge across the seemingly indecipherable gap between one’s existence and one’s purpose. The empty, absurd space between these values is endless and nauseating, so one could be forgiven for subscribing to a fix for this issue.

However, Camus clearly criticises those that do commit philosophical suicide, with Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard as the target for his disapproval. “The entire effort of his intellect is to escape the antinomy of the human condition”, states Camus in reference to the Danish philosopher. Any format of ideology, philosophical included, falls under the umbrella of philosophical suicide, due to their nature as propositional answers to the questions we ask ourselves about our existence. 

Synecdoche, New York’s protagonist, Caden Cotard, commits philosophical suicide. However, instead of religion, or other philosophical codes, Caden bridges the absurdity gap through his play. The play offers him a purpose and an answer to the anxiety that comes with facing the absurd. This leap of faith – a Kierkegaardian term for one subscribing to religious structures in search of an antidote to the dizzying absurdity of the world – isn’t religious for Caden, and certainly doesn’t offer any of the sacred advantages that a religious leap of faith would.

However, his devotion and blind loyalty to his theatrical creation illustrates it as a leap that may as well be of religious context, and Kaufman’s protagonist is a disciple who is embarking on a perpetual quest for meaning. Explicitly, Camus disapproves of philosophical suicide, but Kaufman insists on illustrating all three of The Myth of Sisyphus’ answers to the absurd, whether they are deemed appropriate by Camus or not, throughout the film.

Physical suicide, another one of Camus’ responses in the face of the absurd, is not a topic that is associated with casual conversation, perhaps this is due to the misunderstanding, or a questioning of why one would consider such an act. It’s often taboo, and met with great concern if one was to mention it in passing. However, to those who engage in theorising about one’s existence, whether they claim to be existentialists or not, see the discussion of ending one’s life as a sign of great intellectual health. “The thought of suicide is a great consolation” claims German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who, like Camus, is labelled an existentialist by some, despite it being unconfirmed.

Camus’ own words on the consideration of suicide are equally as sympathetic, he argues “all healthy men have thought of their own suicide”, which implies that he views the contemplation of suicide as a necessary component to a natural life. However, this sympathy lies solely within the desire of suicide, which Camus considers healthy, rather than the reasoning, which he argues is impossible for anyone who isn’t the suicidal being to understand, for they are not the individual undergoing such pain. He states that “a man remains forever unknown to us and that there is in him something irreducible that escapes us”, which would personalise the act of suicide. This personalisation reduces any external understanding from the peers around one completing the act, resulting in their rage, guilt, or confusion. 

Camus’ approach to physical suicide, with it being impossible for the non-suicidal being to relate to the individual contemplating suicide, is portrayed explicitly in Synecdoche, New York through a scene that has a primary character, Sammy, end his own life by jumping from a building on the set of Caden’s play. Sammy is hired to play Caden, which requires him to recreate the absurd events that Caden has experienced, including his wife leaving him, as well as his difficult search for his daughter, Olive.

In an earlier scene, Caden stands atop a tall building, about to jump to his death, until he is stopped. When Sammy recreates this moment, he isn’t acting, but feeling genuine pain. After yelling for, and successfully attracting Caden’s attention, Sammy whimpers “watch me, watch my heart break, watch me jump”, before intentionally falling to his death, committing physical suicide. As Sammy stands in the physical space that Caden once stood, wearing the same outfit Caden once wore, portraying Caden himself, he experiences something incredibly personal that Caden could never relate to, and changes the chain of events that he is recreating, killing both himself and the fictional version of Caden. Sammy’s insistence on making it clear that this is his own heartbreak, as opposed to acting out Caden’s, is supported by the immediate scene following, where Caden is fuelled with anger and confusion, yelling “I didn’t jump, Sammy, a man stopped me”.

This interaction explicitly summarises Camus’ thoughts on the personalisation of suicide, with Caden acting as the confused, angered peers of one who has ended their own life. He has literally been in the same situation as Sammy, yet, as Camus states, “an act like this is prepared within the silence of the heart”, meaning that Sammy’s suicide will be forever impossible for others to understand, due to it being his own pain, regardless of whether he’s acting or not.

Despite feeling sympathetic toward those who are suicidal, acknowledging that “living naturally is never easy”, Camus still believed that physical suicide wasn’t a viable option. In his 1951 novel, The Rebel, he claimed that “man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is”, reinforcing his thoughts on both philosophical and physical suicide. He may not see suicide as cowardice, but Camus disapproves of suicide as a response to the absurd, seeing it as a cheap refusal to exist. 

Camus’ final proposed reaction to the absurd is to accept it. It is what Camus wrote as the only viable option, because neither physical nor philosophical suicide solve the problem of our futile existence. One who accepts the absurdity is an Absurd Hero, and there is a solitude and satisfaction that comes with this title. The absurd hero is one who “without negating it, does nothing for the eternal”, which, doesn’t initially seem applicable to Synecdoche, New York, as Caden is desperate to finish his play in order to be remembered and to last eternally in the world of art; a devotion that is an example of committing philosophical suicide.

However, Kaufman doesn’t align with Camus’ writings under strict objective discipline and explores the reactions to the absurd in an evolving manner. Caden may commit philosophical suicide by the means of his play, distracting himself from life’s absurdities, yet his character evolves into the Absurd Hero in the film’s conclusion. This transition is made apparent by the fact of Caden never finishing his play, striking a stark resemblance to the tale of Sisyphus and his incompletable punishment with the boulder. Much like Sisyphus and his boulder, Caden must seek joy in the challenge of his complex, unfinishable play, and engages with it daily despite accepting it’ll never be complete. The challenge is enough for Caden and one must imagine Caden as happy.

As Camus describes the Absurd Hero’s mentality through the lens of Sisyphus: “the struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart” – a sentiment applicable to Caden’s struggle in his directorial role. He fights with actors and himself, while battling the ongoing questions regarding the play’s opening date. Caden knows there is no opening date, and his desire to have one disappears, leaving only a passion for the craft and the struggle. In a Sisyphean style, Caden finds a joy in rejecting his punishment of the never-ending play and finds purpose in the process instead.

To encapsulate Camus’ absurd interpretation of the Sisyphean tale, and its message of being condemned to a loop of punishment, Kaufman opens the film with Caden’s fictional daughter signing a sweet song about her hometown Schenectady: “I was born there, and I’ll die there, my first home I hope to buy there, have a kid or at least try there, sweet Schenectady”. The lyrics reflect the infinite loop of one’s struggle with purpose, resonating with Sisyphus’ loop of rolling the boulder up the mountain. However, the dispiriting, gloomy lyrics are sung with joy and optimism, implying that the song is reflecting the acceptance of our futility, and that the vocalist has found joy in such absurdity. 

Synecdoche, New York is a dizzying film that explores the writings of Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus. Kaufman’s style enables the themes of Camus’ writing to be portrayed on a subjective basis, with no characters sticking to one theme. It’s this fluidity of character-based ideologies that contribute to the intensely confusing nature of the film, a decision that is undoubtedly intentional on the director’s behalf in an effort to deliver an honest portrait of life’s absurdities and the angst of existential dread. Kaufman explores all three responses to absurdity that Camus proposes, each with their own power and resulting purpose.

The titular use of the term ‘synecdoche’ is also quite appropriate; whilst Caden builds a synecdoche of New York, Kaufman builds one himself. Synecdoche, New York is a neat representation of a broad concept: absurdism. It encapsulates Camus’ essay, acting as a synecdoche… working as a small part representing a very big whole. 

About The Author: Oliver Bridges

Oliver Bridges is a London-based director and filmmaker whose professional work centers on crafting visually compelling narratives that blend creativity with emotional depth. Specializing in commercials, music videos, and short films, Oliver's philosophy emphasizes authentic storytelling and innovative visual techniques to engage audiences on a profound level. His Instagram @oliverbridgesdirector showcases a portfolio of dynamic projects, including collaborations with brands and artists, highlighting his expertise in cinematography, direction, and post-production. With a keen eye for detail and a collaborative spirit, Oliver's expressive style is marked by bold aesthetics and narrative innovation, making him a standout voice in contemporary filmmaking.