A Serious Man (2009)

A black comedy drama centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel through multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking for meaning and answers he seems to stay stalled.

Directors:

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Writers:

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Stars:

Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 20 wins & 39 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Stuhlbarg	...	Larry Gopnik
Richard Kind	...	Uncle Arthur
Fred Melamed	...	Sy Ableman
Sari Lennick	...	Judith Gopnik
Aaron Wolff	...	Danny Gopnik
Jessica McManus	...	Sarah Gopnik
Peter Breitmayer	...	Mr. Brandt
Brent Braunschweig	...	Mitch Brandt
David Kang	...	Clive Park
Benjamin Portnoe	...	Danny's Reefer Buddy
Jack Swiler	...	Boy on Bus
Andrew S. Lentz	...	Cursing Boy on Bus
Jon Kaminski Jr.	...	Mike Fagle
Ari Hoptman	...	Arlen Finkle
Alan Mandell	...	Rabbi Marshak

Storyline

Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job, his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome house guest. But both Arthur and Larry get turfed out into a motel when Larry's wife Judy, who wants a divorce, moves her lover, Sy, into the house and even after Sy's death in a car crash they are still there. With lawyers' bills mounting for his divorce, Arthur's criminal court appearances and a land feud with a neighbour Larry is tempted to take the bribe offered by a student to give him an illegal exam pass mark. And the rabbis he visits for advice only dole out platitudes. Still God moves in mysterious - and not always pleasant - ways, as Larry and his family will find out.

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Plot Keywords:

divorce | house | bribe | professor | car crash | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA UK France

Language:

English Yiddish Hebrew

Release Date:

20 November 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Un hombre serio

Filming Locations:

Uptown Vision Clinic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£321,114 (UK) (20 November 2009)

Gross:

$9,190,525 (USA) (1 January 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, StudioCanal, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At his Bar Mitzvah, Danny reads a "Parshah" or portion of the Torah scroll known as "Behar" (Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2) which details the events of the Jubilee year, including the release of slaves and return of ancestral lands. Because the reading of Torah portions follow a set yearly cycle, this means that Danny's Bar Mitzvah occurred in early May of 1967.

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Goofs

Rabbis are not wearing yarmulkas (skull caps) while at work in their synagogue.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Shtetl Husband: What a marvel... what a marvel.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits is a line advising that "No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture."

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 3 October 2009 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Good Times"
Written by Paul Applebaum (as P. Applebaum)
Performed by Art of Lovin'
Courtesy of Mainstream/Hunnypot Unlimited
By arrangement with Evergreen/ICG

User Reviews

A Serious Film

You may have to be a believer (Jewish or Christian) to like this film, although some secular (at least middle-aged midwestern) Jews and others may find it worthwhile for the period details. It is a modern version of the book of Job, which--of course you remember--contains a prologue in which God and Satan bet on whether Job will remain faithful and Satan then strikes down Job's flocks, children, and health; a series of speeches by three comforters with Job's responses; a speech by Elihu who is unhappy with the advice of the three comforters; the Lord himself answering Job directly out of the whirlwind ('who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?'); a final submissive speech by Job ('I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye see thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes'); and an epilogue in which Job receives more flocks and children (...) than he had before.

The book and the film address what (Christian, at least) theologians call theodicy, or how bad things can happen in the world when God, who supposedly controls everything, is supposedly good. For nonbelievers (if you have any interest in the subject), the best way to think of this is perhaps to ask yourself whether the universe (the Creation) is on balance a good thing ('and God saw that it was good'). If so, then perhaps we somehow have an obligation to live moral lives and (as Jews and Christians think of it) to follow God's law. If not, then perhaps it's every man for himself and the Devil take the hindmost.

The Coens' answer, if I understand it correctly, comes out of the whirlwind at the end in the voice of Grace Slick. I personally prefer God's original response with its paean to astrophysics and evolutionary biology--'Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? ... Gave you wings and feathers unto the ostrich? Who leaves her eggs in the earth, and warms them in the dust, and forgets that the foot may crust them or that the wild best may break them...; because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding'--which essentially asserts that Creation is wonderful and a package deal. But the Coens' very different answer, while oddly Christian in emphasis, is fully consistent with both the 1960s zeitgeist and with the midwestern Jewish community that they have so meticulously recreated.

If you like this film, you really need to see it twice. But without giving anything away, if you see it once, be careful to pay attention to (i) the bribe that, like Schroedinger's cat, is alive and dead at the same time and (ii) the whirlwind at the end. This is a great film.