By Marc S. Sanders
There’s never anything wrong with questioning the Almighty God. At least that’s what I believe.
There’s nothing wrong with being faithful to an Almighty God…if you can find comfort and solace in its doctrine. At least I think that’s what I believe.
The Coen Brothers released A Serious Man in 2009 to solve a great mystery that frankly we should all know can never be solved.
In 1967, Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a Jewish family man living in small town Minnesota. He never steps out of line with his principles or morals. He attends synagogue regularly. He’s simply a good Jew; a good husband, father, brother-in-law. Again, he’s a good Jew.
Yet, he is also plagued with suffering through the results of what everyone around him commits as sin or violations. His brother-in-law Arthur (Richard Kind) has overstayed his welcome in the house and is now under suspicion of committing illegal gambling in various bars. His daughter is swiping money to get a nose job. His son is listening to Jefferson Airplane in Hebrew school while getting ready to become a Bar Mitzvah.
Most prominently speaking, his best friend Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed) is gently counseling Larry through an unwelcome crisis at home. Sy is encouraging Larry to agree to a “Get.” Sy is ready to begin a relationship with Larry’s bitter wife Judith (Sari Lennick), and as they move towards divorce, Sy will need Larry to obtain a “Get” from the Rabbi. The Coens are admirably nervy in their writing because Sy addresses Larry like a child who he’s trying to get to swallow a bottle of castor oil so that he can finally make after two days of constipation. That’s truly what it feels like.
I never read the book of Job, but I understand that A Serious Man was metaphorically inspired by its contents. The question residing in both contexts is simply why must all of these unfortunate circumstances occur in Larry’s life?
For Larry, it is best to get definitive answers. After all, Larry is a physics teacher which is built on solid formulaic equations and never compromised because it’s a subject of exact science. His giant blackboard bears the argument of solid answers from top to bottom with endless scribbles, diagrams and numbers. It looks like incomprehensible gibberish, but at the end of it all, there’s a definite answer. The proofs do not lie or compromise.
A South Korean student cannot comprehend that wrong answers on a physics test merit a failing grade. It’s unfathomable because without passing Larry’s physics course, the student cannot obtain a mathematics scholarship. Larry knows that is true, because how can you study physics without math? The two subjects hinge upon one another. Larry sees no other way than to fail the student. He won’t budge on that. He sticks to his code of ethics. He’s right all the way. Still, he’s accused of being prejudiced and then an envelope of bribe money is discovered on his desk. It won’t sway him, but he can’t return it back to the student, if he can’t find him. So, here’s another thing to weigh on him.
Larry is a healthy middle-aged father and husband, a devout Jew and somehow he’s the one suffering the most from the misgivings of everyone else. Poor Larry even has to move with nebbishy Arthur into a local hotel. Sy assures him it’s a lovely place with a pool (the pool is drained empty by the way). His chance at tenure is also at risk. There’s the divorce filing from his wife which causes him to hire an expensive attorney (Adam Arkin). All this “tsouris!” It’s too much to carry at once.
Midway through A Serious Man, the Coens opt to have their protagonist visit three Rabbis for the exact answers that will tell of his unfortunate circumstances. The three visits do not so much lend to the story of Larry’s plight as they prove a point. As satisfying as it might be for a physics teacher to arrive at the exact answer on the right side of an equal sign, one Rabbinical student (Simon Helberg from The Big Band Theory)- filling in for THE RABBI – will tell you to seek the answers you are looking for in an empty parking lot just outside the window. ?????????
The second Rabbi played by favorite character actor George Wyner (Hill Street Blues, The Devil’s Advocate, Spaceballs) will tell a tall tale of a dentist and his goyish patient that leaves me wanting to know the end all be all. What’s concluded may leave you shouting OY VEY!!!!
The third Rabbi is the mysterious Rabbi Marshack (Alan Mendall). He is the elder, maybe the grand prophet, who is concealed in a private office with his long white beard and black hat, sitting behind his desk at the faaaaaarrrrr end of the room. Will he finally have the answers to Larry’s questions?
This is reminiscent of that animated commercial that asks how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop. Did Mr. Owl actually have the answers the little boy was looking for?
A Yiddish told prologue that is seemingly unconnected to Larry’s story opens the film and it tells the story of a dybbuk knocking on a couple’s door in the “mitt en drinen” of winter. The wife sees the curse of this dybbuk – the soul of a dead man meant to haunt them. The husband does not. It’s only after you watch A Serious Man from beginning to end that you’ll likely make the connection of a curse that future generations will never be able to escape now that the dybbuk arrived many years prior. Perhaps that is the answer that no Rabbi could clearly define for Larry. It’s more apt to be my theory but it’s still not entirely clear. Then again, perhaps it’s just the tale to resort to when a congregant like Larry Gopnik asks his clergymen why his life is in such turmoil.
I adore this film and it might be on a very personal level that others may not appreciate unless they have had an upbringing like mine. Practically every single character in A Serious Man, all played by relatively unknown actors, look completely familiar to me.
From Larry’s obnoxious kids (“I’m studying Torah asshole” with a defined middle finger raised), to his bitter wife that I routinely see a caricature of in Shull. Sy Abelman talks like my father-in-law (a great man, who I love by the way) does at Passover Seders, to his co-workers and even Larry himself. Wearing nerdy black rimmed glasses, he hunches down to scribble on the blackboard with his fat butt sticking out just like my Hebrew teacher Mr. Katz did in my Yeshiva. It’s all uncannily familiar and easily recognizable.
There’s a very striking authenticity to A Serious Man that I’d be remiss in not complimenting. Many may not see it. You’d have to a be a northern practicing Jew or at least personally experienced with this secular environment to understand. That being said, seek out this unsung Coen Brothers piece and allow your patience to guide you through its various oddities. It’s Joel & Ethan Coen. So, you know it’s going to be odd. I expect that it’ll leave you thinking, though.
These actors that you may recognize, but cannot pinpoint what else you’ve seen them in, were meant for these roles. Only a certain kind of Jewish actor could play these people.
For example, no one else but Fyvush Finkle could play a Dybbuk arriving on a doorstep in the mitt en drinen of snowy winter!
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 