Movie Review - A Serious Man

Set in 1967, A Serious Man tells the story of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) a Midwestern college math teacher.  Gopnik becomes embroiled in a moral dilemma when a failing student attempts to bribe him.  Gopnik is so naïve that he doesn’t even comprehend what’s going on until the student is gone and he’s left holding an envelope full of cash.  The student, in turn, uses his inadvertent acceptance of the money as an opportunity to blackmail Gopnik.  This problem is only one of many.  Gopnik is saddled with a wife (Sari Lennick) who wants a divorce, two disrespectful teenagers and a mentally unstable, live-in brother (Richard Kind) who refuses to move out.  Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, the film is a darkly comic tale of the unraveling of a man’s life; easily analogous to the story of Job.

The film is steeped in Jewish tradition and characters.  The film opens with the retelling of a piece of Jewish folklore told entirely in Yiddish (don’t worry, there’s subtitles) and Gopnik is an observant Jew who, in times of trouble, turns to his synagogue for answers.  However, his attempts to meet with various rabbis are frustratingly thwarted, maddeningly obtuse or riddled with non sequiturs.  Granted, I’m not Jewish, but there were times when I couldn’t help but feel some of the portrayals bordered on stereotypes. 

A Serious Man makes reoccurring usage of stories with little or no point.  An accusation one could level (though dismissively) at the film itself.  In the hands of lesser filmmakers these open-ended narratives would feel like lazy storytelling.  But here, it serves a greater purpose. The entire film questions the nature and meaning of life.  Is there a God?  Are there really rules to follow?  And if so, are there really any consequences for breaking these rules?  Or is life merely a series of random events to which we’ve chosen to ascribe meaning?  For a comedy, it’s (fittingly) quite serious.  While the movie has laughs, they are often of the nihilistic variety.  The Coen Brothers mine the depths of divorce, depression and death for their humor.  In the process themes like “free will vs. fate” , the nature of honesty and the role of Jews in a Christian/secular world being to pile up.  But the Coen Brothers move deftly amongst their themes without ever preaching or lecturing.  But it’s also funny if you can get past the dismal nature of the situations in which our titular hero continues to find himself.  The Coen Brothers are using existential crisis to punctuate humor in much the same way they used violence in Fargo.  This can be a jarring motif for a society that is more accustomed to humorous acts of violence being physical than metaphysical.

The film is cast largely with unknown actors but each one is more than up to the challenge.  The lack of familiar faces allows the Coen Brothers to create a world that feels “real”.  To that end, the set design (something rarely worth mentioning) is amazing.  Every car, home, product or piece of clothing or furniture perfectly captures the garish, middle-class monotony of the era.  The movie doesn’t give easy answers nor does it intend to.  For all its charm, it can be an impenetrable affair which is frustrating feature in a film.  It ends with a startling image that, while arresting, will most likely leave you asking, “Is that all there is?”  But for a comedy about the meaning of life, that might be the greatest punch line of all.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Fargo and 1 being Being Human, A Serious Man gets an 8.