A Serious Man

I think somewhere down the line, we all seek for meaning, we've all had that moment where something bad happens to us and we have to ask God why is this happening. Even people who don't necessarily believe in God ask this when things go wrong; because when things go wrong and there is no one to blame, who else is there. Is there meaning to this all, or is it just a series of events that don't add up to anything?

This is the question posed in The Coen Brothers' latest masterpiece "A Serious Man". The story centers on Larry Gopnik, a midwestern physics professor living in the 1960s, who's life is unraveling around him for no particular reason. Larry's wife Judith (Sari Lennik) wants a divorce, she has been seeing a family friend Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed) and wants Larry to get a Jewish ritual divorce so she can marry him.

Larry is also having professional problems, a Korean student is threatening to blackmail after he is given a failing grade on his midterm. Larry is also up for tenure at his university, but the board keeps getting anonymous letters from someone trying to discredit him.

Along with this, Larry's brother (Richard Kind) is living on their couch, his daughter is obsessed with going out all the time, and his son is wanting him to fix the tv antena so he can watch "F-Troop".

Soon, Larry comes to the conclusion that all of this is happening for a reason, therefore he must find answers, he decides to go to a series of rabbis to search for meaning behind all this.

"A Serious Man" is a comedy, thank God, because otherwise this would be a hard film to take, The Coen Brothers are known for their black humour, and also for their merciless treatment of their characters. However The Coens sympathize with Larry's situation, even though he's put through a trial. The film is all about the big questions we all ask ourselves, is their meaning behind anything?

Like all of The Coens films, there isn't really an answer, we're sort of left in limbo at the end of the movie, and like life itself, it leaves us uncertain of what will happen next.

"A Serious Man" is about asking these questions, and the human nature of not being able to accept the mystery that is life. As Larry says to one of the rabbis concerning God's absence in the world "Why does he make us feel the question, if he doesn't give us the answer?" You can sense The Coens are struggling with this question as well particularly with the way the line is delivered.

"A Serious Man" has become a modern take on the story of Job, in that story, Job is put through many tragic circumstances, but we find that this is God testing his faith. I'm not sure this is the case in this film, God is nowhere to be found, yet the characters are struggling with his existence in their lives. It reminds me of "No Country for Old Men" where Tommy Lee Jones mentions how at his age he was expecting God to enter his life some how, but he doesn't.

In the world today, God is talked of less and less, The Coens don't make him appear as if Larry were Moses, and that is what is so frustrating for him, as the audience we can feel what Larry is feeling, we've all been there, luckily, this is done with wicked black humour, that makes it go down easier.

At the end of the film, we are left with the same questions about why bad things happen to good people, but it's a cathartic experience seeing Larry's trials and tribulations, we are able to laugh at it, and perhaps that is one way we can accept the mystery.