During the past three decades, the Coen Brothers have established themselves as a diverse and fascinating auteurs. They explored greed and criminality (Blood Simple, 1984, and Fargo, 1996), the creative dilemma (Barton Fink, 1991), the shock of attitudes (The Big Lebowski, 1998), and so on. Then they questioned the meaning of life itself in A Serious Man, in 2009. The film is amongst their most mysterious, intriguing, funny and – unfortunately – overlooked.
A Serious Man is mysterious from the opening sequence. A 19th century Eastern European couple re visited by someone who may or may not be a dybbuk – a malicious spirit of Jewish folklore who impersonates the dead. This sequence has no explicit relation to film narrative, only a thematic one. The song in the following sequence – Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane – fulfils a similar function to the unusual prologue.
The 14th film by the Coen Brothers follows Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor in 1960s Minnesota whose life is seemingly imploding. His wife is dumping him for his friend, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), he is being bribed and later blackmailed by a student and his chances of obtaining a tenure (permanent employment after probation) are threatened by a mysterious conspirator.
A lot is happening to Larry and all he can do is ask why. Given his knowledge of physics and mathematics, he feels he should have all the answers, but can see no explanation why his life has suddenly fallen apart. The fact that his freeloading brother Arthur (Richard Kind) has created a formula that seems to be able to predict the future (it helps him win at poker) only aggravates his anxiety.
As a Jewish man he questions if it is some sort of divine punishment, and what is it has he done in order to deserve it?
He seeks enlightenment, only for a junior rabbi to give him an irrelevant parable using the synagogue’s parking area as a device. A more senior second rabbi is even less helpful, telling him a story that doesn’t go anywhere about a dentist who thinks he sees a message in a patient’s teeth. Everyone advises Larry to see the wise old rabbi Marshak. Unfortunately, Marshak is now devoted to the boys who have become bar mitzvah. Larry’s son, Danny (Aaron Wolff) will likely hear Marshak’s wise words before before his father.
Even though the film is about a man in a deep crisis, A Serious Man is hilarious. The Coens’ script perfectly and expertly strides the line between drama and comedy, with a great deal of the humour derived from the disconnect between Larry and everyone else. Everyone seems oblivious to Larry’s visible desperation. The only sympathy he gets is from a cold-caller from a record club he never joined. That doesn’t last long either. The stranger soon turns the friendly conversation into money matters.
The script also delves into Jewish neurosis, male inferiority, as well as having many Coen-esque dark and peculiar humours: Arthur constantly draining a cyst on his neck, his daughter is constantly washing her hair, and Larry contemplates the purpose of life in a motel called The Jolly Roger.
Perhaps the reason A Serious Man failed at the box office (despite being a hit amongst critics) is the absence of well-known actors. Or possibly because it never provides answers to the complex questions raised, as mainstream audiences often expect. The movie is open to many interpretations. The ending is a sobering reminder that life can change in a split second.
A Serious Man is a film that deserves to be rediscovered and reevaluated for its compelling, thought-provoking and hilarious qualities.
This review was written for the occasion of the film’s 10th anniversary in 2019. No re-edition has been scheduled, but you can watch the movie on all major VoD platforms.