A Serious Man

Watching new releases can be a disappointment. Meanwhile, there is a huge canon of cinematic classics that is within our grasp anytime we step foot in a video rental store, and the amount of great, let alone truly outstanding films that come out each year can in comparison seem very meager to we cinephiles. So it is always a real pleasure when a contemporary movie is so thoughtful, organic, and original that it can be instantly recognized as a modern classic. That's when you know what you have is a serious movie.

Joel and Ethan Coen's most recent output, A Serious Man, is a rare gem of cinema, in which these master storytellers weave together a combination of morbidly comic pathos, historical and cultural evocation, and complex religious, philosophical, and scientific ideas. There isn’t a scene that isn’t brilliant or that doesn’t work beautifully to tie in the Coens’ themes. At first glance the prologue and conclusion, which seem somewhat incongruous and abrupt respectively, give the movie a rather jarring quality, but on further reflection these scenes lend themselves very well to interpretation of the movie, for the very fact that they are so open-ended. The Coen Brothers writing and direction, is, per usual, impeccable. Michael Stuhlbarg, a relative unknown, is a solid pick for the bemused and exasperated main character, and Fred Melamed and Richard Kind both deliver hilarious supporting performances.

Someone is out to get mild-mannered physics professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg). Or at least it seems that way to him: his wife just left him for his best friend (Melamed), his children all but ignore him, his troubled brother (Kind) is living indefinitely on his couch, his neighbor is making territorial advances into his lawn, his principles are being tested by a disgruntled student's bribes, he’s been kicked out of his own house, bills for lawyers are beginning to add up, and someone is anonymously sending defamatory letters to the tenure board. And it only gets worse from there. Larry has “tried to be a serious man,” and finds himself at a loss to explain his predicament. He seeks out the advice of three rabbis to help him find answers to his questions. Why is this happening? Why to him? Is it God’s will? What is He trying to tell Larry?

If you are acquainted with the Bible, this story may look familiar to you; it is based on the Book of Job. Job, a good man, is subjected to a series of tests of his piety. Doggedly trusting in God’s righteousness despite losing his family, home, and health, Job seeks an explanation from God for his suffering. When the deity reveals himself in an incredible manner (doesn’t that enigmatic ending to the movie make much more sense now?), He proclaims his absolute sovereignty. God is unknowable and cannot be questioned.

This movie is about uncertainty. Confusing alternatives are presented and questions abound everywhere. Everything appears to be a matter of doubt, whether it be God’s will, the cryptic message on “the goy’s teeth,” or the life or death (or can it be both?) of Schrödinger’s cat. How are we to survive suffering without any answers? Is it worth struggling to be “a serious man” when we are faced with the incomprehensible, and the great Rabbi Marshak won’t even grant an audience? Fittingly, the movie never answers these questions… that’s the whole point.

“The Uncertainty Principle. It proves we can't ever really know... what's going on. So it shouldn't bother you. Not being able to figure anything out. Although you will be responsible for this on the mid-term!” —Larry Gopnik

27/30