A Serious Man

A Serious Man, a 2009 black comedy-drama, was written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan.  It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture (won by The Hurt Locker).  The Coen brothers were also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (won by Mark Boal, also for The Hurt Locker).

A Serious Man stars Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik, a religious Jewish man whose life is crumbling both professionally and personally.  He doesn't understand why and looks to God when facing such serious problems.  

Larry is a college physics professor whose job is at risk because his department receives "anonymous letters urging (them) to deny him tenure."  A student who received a failing grade, but asks Larry to change it, leaves an envelope full of cash on his desk.  

Larry's wife wants a divorce as she has fallen in love with another man.  His brother is in trouble with the police.  Larry's son smokes marijuana just before his bar mitzvah.  His teenage daughter is "always washing her hair and going out."

Larry goes to Rabbi Marshak for help to understand his life.  In response, the Rabbi tells him a story about a Jewish dentist (Dr. Sussman) who saw Hebrew letters on the back of a goy's (non-Jewish person's) teeth.  Translated, the letters spell out, "Help me, save me."  

The dentist is desperate to understand the meaning of this revelation.  He also goes to Rabbi Marshak for an answer.  The Rabbi told the dentist to forget about it and go on with his life.  There are so many things humans are incapable of understanding, so why bother trying.  

But, that's not sufficient for Larry.  

Larry:  Why does God make us feel the questions if he's not gonna give us the answers?  

Rabbi:  He hasn't told me.

Larry:  And what happened to the goy?  

Rabbi:  The goy?  Who cares?

The end of the movie is very disturbing.  Larry is sitting at his desk in his college office and has just changed the above student's grade from F to C- when the phone rings.  It's Larry's doctor.

Doctor:  Larry, could you come by to discuss the x-ray results?  You remember the x-rays we took?  

Larry:  We can't discuss them over the phone?  

Doctor:  I think we'd be more comfortable here.  Can you come in?  

Larry:  When?  

Doctor:  Now.

A Serious Man begins with a 19th Century scene in Yiddish in a Eastern European location.  A husband comes home on a cold winter night and tells his wife a man whom he knew helped him on the road and he invited the man to come to the couple's home for soup.  The wife claims the man must be a "dybbuk" (a malicious spirit) since she knows he died three years ago.  When the man/dybbuk arrives, the wife plunges a knife into his chest and he stumbles out the door, bleeding.

According to the Coen brothers, the dybbuk story has no meaning.  It is only an attention getter. 

The brothers also put on the screen the famous quote from Rashi, "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."  That does have meaning.