A Serious Man (2009)

A Serious Man is the latest film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this time taking place in a Midwestern suburb in the late sixties. The story follows Larry Gopnik, a Jewish family man and a physics professor, who is experiencing some problems in his life at a relatively important time; his son’s bar mitzvah is approaching and he is up for receiving tenure. Unfortunately many troubles arise such as his wife wanting a divorce and him to move out, someone submitting anonymous letters suggesting that he not receive tenure, his children not really valuing his existence, his brother (Richard Kind) sleeping on his couch and hogging the bathroom, his attractive neighbor sunbathing naked, and his South Korean student attempting to bribe him or sue him for not giving him a passing grade in the class.

More and more problems pile on top of this and poor Larry becomes increasingly incapable of dealing with them. They all spiral out of control and Larry attempts to seek advice from three rabbis in ascending order. The scenes involving each are particularly hilarious as well as equally not helpful. No matter what Larry does, he is clearly meant to suffer, and suffer he does. The piling on of these problems lead Larry to begin to ask some big questions that the film then addresses: Does everything happen for a reason? Who’s in control? There is an obsession of watching Larry squirm for the sake of comedy in this film and it works incredibly well. This film falls into the range of comedy known as cringe comedy, but the reactions and ways that Larry deals (or doesn’t) with each problem that arises is often very funny. Michael Stuhlbarg does an incredible job capturing a specific sense of humor while also seeming sympathetic.

There are some other great scenes involving the son (Aaron Wolff). The banter between him and his friends on the bus is immature and funny, and his main conflict outside of having bad reception on the TV, is that he loses his transistor radio in class that had the money he owed a much larger kid inside. His entire subplot builds up to his bar mitzvah and a realization that the son is a lot like the father in that he simply lets these things happen to him. The rest of the cast is as offbeat as you would expect from a Coen brothers film. The suburban Jews being comparable to the Texans from No Country for Old Men and the people of Fargo, North Dakota in Fargo. The most interesting of these side characters is probably Sy Ableman, played brilliantly by Fred Melamed, the man that Larry’s wife is leaving him for. Sy shows up and deals with the whole problem in such a way that it would be off-putting if it were happening to anyone else. Watching Larry helplessly deal with this character and their situation is just amusing to say the least.

The film opens with a prologue set in Europe in the distant past. A man enters his home and tells his wife a story of how the wheel on his wagon was damaged, but that an elderly man showed up and helped him claiming to be an acquaintance of his wife’s. She yells at him for this, explaining that the man the stranger claimed to be is dead and that he was actually helped by a spirit (referred to as a “dybbuk”), which should always be avoided. At this moment the stranger shows up having been invited for soup by the husband. The man appears healthy and friendly, but the wife remains fearful and even stabs their guest in the chest with an icepick. He seems fine until he bleeds and leaves the house. It is never confirmed whether or not he is a spirit. This seemingly random prologue sets up the tone of the rest of the film as the husband stood by and let these things happen in a way that mirrors Larry’s inability to resolve his own problems. Another great film from the Coen Brothers, A Serious Man is a thought provoking and humorous film that will stay with you long after the ending credits.