The title of the film A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, is what a rabbi says in praise of a deceased gentleman at a funeral. The year is 1967. Professor Larry Gopnik (played by Michael Stuhlbarg) is teaching, grading papers, confusing his students with Heisbenberg’s uncertainty principle, and supporting his family. But he is not a particularly exciting person, just an ordinary man trying to lead a respectable life. A Korean student feels that he has been unjustly given a low grade that will affect his scholarship, and soon his father becomes part of the intimidation. The Columbia Record Club persists in wanting him to pay for records that someone in the family has ordered under his name, the least of his financial problems. The good professor is up for tenure, and a colleague on the tenure committee comes by his office, intimating that his application might be denied. His brother Arthur (played by Richard Kind) has medical problems and snores. His spouse Judith (played by Sari Lennick) suddenly wants a divorce; she wants to marry their good friend Sy Abelman (played by Fred Melamed). Falsely, she tells her future husband that Gopnik has been understanding about her desire, so Abelman drops by to congratulate Gopnik for his maturity. He moves out with his brother to a motel. And, of course, the children enjoy misbehaving. Through all the trouble, Gopnik tries to keep his cool but consults rabbis for advice. The rabbis give inappropriate advice, evidently unaware of the aphorism from Talmudic scholar Rashi (“Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you”) that appears as a title at the beginning of the film. In other words, nobody has empathy for anyone else. Gopnik does not know what to do while so many push their agendas. Does the scenario sound familiar? Jefferson Airplane’s “When the truth is found to be lies/And all the joy in you dies” is played several times to make the point but annoyingly at such a loud volume that the lyrics may not be discerned. Is there any room for conscientious, hardworking people in narcissistic America? The ending, when almost everything is resolved, is a copout. Supposedly a comedy, the critics agree that A Serious Man is a must-see film, doubtless because nothing has changed since 1967. Well, except for the election of Barack Obama. MH
I
want to comment on this film
