A Serious Man (2009)
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Reviews Counted: 205
Fresh: 183 | Rotten: 22
Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, the Coen brothers deliver what might be their most mature -- if not their best -- film to date.
Average Rating: 8/10
Critic Reviews: 45
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 5
Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, the Coen brothers deliver what might be their most mature -- if not their best -- film to date.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 59,326
My Rating
Movie Info
Filmmaking duo Joel and Ethan Coen write, produce, and direct this period black comedy set in 1967 concerning a Midwestern physics professor whose staid and stable life slowly begins to unravel after his wife announces that she's leaving him. As if the failure of his longtime marriage wasn't enough for Larry Gopnik (Tony-nominated Michael Stuhlbarg) to contend with, now his socially inept brother refuses to move out of the house as well. Larry is a modest man of science. Up to this point, his
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Cast
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Michael Stuhlbarg
Larry Gopnik -
Richard Kind
Uncle Arthur -
Fred Melamed
Sy Ableman -
Sari Lennick
Judith Gopnik -
Adam Arkin
Divorce Lawyer -
Amy Landecker
Mrs. Samsky -
Alan Mandell
Rabbi Marshak -
Fyvush Finkel
Dybbuk? -
Allen Lewis Rickman
Shtetl Husband -
Yelena Shmulenson
Shtetl Wife -
Peter Breitmayer
Mr. Brandt -
Brent Braunschweig
Mitch Brandt -
Simon Helberg
Rabbi Scott -
David Kang
Clive Park -
Aaron Wolff
Danny Gopnik -
Jessica McManus
Sarah Gopnik -
Ari Hoptman
Arlen Finkle -
Michael Tezla
Dr. Sussman -
George Wyner
Rabbi Nachtner -
Michael Lerner
Solomon Schlutz -
Benjamin Portnoe
Danny's Reefer Buddy -
Jon Kaminski Jr.
Mike Fagle -
Ronald Schultz
Hebrew School Teacher -
Raye Birk
Dr. Shapiro -
Charles Brin
Hebrew School Teacher -
Stephen Park
Clive's Father -
James Cada
Cop #1 -
Jane Hammill
Larry's Secretary
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A Serious Man Trailer & Photos
All Critics (206) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (187) | Rotten (22) | DVD (9)
The Coens may play around with that tradition, they may disparage it or mock it. But they are irrevocably a part of it, and that's all to the good.
Top CriticIf you're puzzled by the Coen Brothers' horrific comedies, this is the closest thing you'll get to an explanation.
The film's potency is rooted in quiet precision and detailed realisation. Roger Deakins's typically polished photography gives an oppressively hard edge to Midwestern suburbia.
Their most inside joke ever, it leaves you with a lot to chew on, if not a lot to enjoy.
Mostly, A Serious Man succeeds because it engages questions worth asking. What is integrity? Does our atavistic need for stories illuminate the meaning of life or further obfuscate it? What does it mean to be good and how are we to achieve it?
Life is pain. Life is funny. Things happen randomly, with no purpose or reason that can be discerned. Searching for answers is futile. Enjoy what you can.
For all the droll wit on display, it's hard to warm to the Coens' chilly parable. Is Larry's suffering the work of God or the Devil, or just the random chaos of an indifferent universe? Arch-ironists to their fingertips, the Coens aren't telling.
I guess gleeful misanthropy wasn't enough for the Coen Brothers. Now they want to make it clear that God ... excuse me, Hashem ... is an unforgiving bastard.
Brilliant but bleak comedy for mature Coen brothers fans.
Joel and Ethan Coen love to play God; they put their characters through hell, torturing them endlessly and treating them with disdain before finally giving them peace (usually through death, madness or some form of imprisonment).
[A] film to be intuitively understood on an almost gut level and discussing it at length later to unravel its nuances is part of the pleasure of seeing such a film.
A sincerely sympathetic portrait of an American family man in crisis -- even as it insults its characters and derides their culture.
It's serious about the craft of storytelling, both in form and function, with a dedication to characterization, pitch-perfect performances, and a cinematic backdrop that is both severely nostalgic and completely immersive.
It's definitely a film worth seeing.
In terms of putting a protagonist through the wringer, the directors haven't been quite this cruel since Barton Fink, a film which shares A Serious Man's penchant for extremely black - actually, make that bleak - humor.
A Serious Man is several barrels full of laughs. But it's as serious-minded about suffering and misfortune as any film I've seen.
The Coens the way I like them. This is their second best film after The Man Who Wasn't There.
In this Coen brothers comedy, a good-hearted, Midwestern family man finds his life unraveling at work and at home although he's done nothing to deserve it.
What emerges is a willingness to go the extra mile to create good period detail, from adding aerials to roofs, to wrangling cars from the right period and even going so far as to remove the tree line to give the suburban estate a 'newly built' feel.
Una farsa genial, con aires de tragedia, que resulta en una brillante alegoría sobre la condición humana. Una más para el podio de lo mejor de los Coen.
Audience Reviews for A Serious Man
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Rabbi Scott: No, of course not. I am the junior rabbi. And it's true, the point-of-view of somebody who's older and perhaps had similar problems might be more valid. And you should see the senior rabbi as well, by all means. Or even Minda if you can get in, he's quite busy. But maybe - can I share something with you? Because I too have had the feeling of losing track of Hashem, which is the problem here. I too have forgotten how to see Him in the world. And when that happens you think, well, if I can't see Him, He isn't there any more, He's gone. But that's not the case. You just need to remember how to see Him. Am I right? [He rises and goes to the window]
- Rabbi Scott: I mean, the parking lot here. Not much to see. It is a different angle on the same parking lot we saw from the Hebrew school window. But if you imagine yourself a visitor, somebody who isn't familiar with these... autos and such... somebody still with a capacity for wonder... Someone with a fresh... perspective. That's what it is, Larry.
- Larry Gopnik: Um...
- Rabbi Scott: Because with the right perspective you can see Hashem, you know, reaching into the world. He is in the world, not just in shul. It sounds to me like you're looking at the world, looking at your wife, through tired eyes. It sounds like she's become a sort of... thing... a problem... a thing...
- Larry Gopnik: Well, she's, she's seeing Sy Ableman.
- Rabbi Scott: Well, she's, she's seeing Sy Ableman.
- Larry Gopnik: She's, they're planning, that's why they want the Gett.
- Rabbi Scott: Oh. I'm sorry.
- Larry Gopnik: It was his idea.
- Rabbi Scott: Well, they do need a Gett to remarry in the faith. But this is life. For you too. You can't cut yourself off from the mystical or you'll be-you'll remain-completely lost. You have to see these things as expressions of God's will. You don't have to like it, of course. Larry Gopnik: The boss isn't always right, but he's always the boss.
- Larry Gopnik: The boss isn't always right, but he's always the boss.
- Rabbi Scott: Ha-ha-ha! That's right, things aren't so bad. Look at the parking lot, Larry. [Rabbi Scott gazes out, marveling]
- Rabbi Scott: Just look at that parking lot.
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- Clive Park: I received an unsatisfactory grade. In fact: F, the failing grade.
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- Larry Gopnik: The Uncertainty Principle. It proves we can't ever really know... what's going on. So it shouldn't bother you. Not being able to figure anything out. Although you will be responsible for this on the mid-term.
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- Sy Ableman: I'm a serious man, Larry.
Discussion Forum
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| Best Cohen bros. film for years!! | 17 days ago | 0 |
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Foreign Titles
- A Serious Man (FR)
- Un tipo serio (ES)
The Coens have made some strange and off-the-wall films, but this one may just take the cake. In terms of style, it most closely resembles The Man Who Wasn't There. That was their most serious film. This one is also quite serious, and very dark, but there's still some humor, much like how No Country For Old Men had humor, even if it was subtle. Had I understood more of the references, I probably would have found it even funnier, but as it stands, I still laughed a bit throughout, even if I did so in an awkward and uneasy way.
Some of this film escaped me, as I am not Jewish, but, as a Catholic, I found myself relating to some things, as Catholic guilt and Jewish guilt are very similar, and the interactions Larry has with the Rabbis are similar to things I've experienced from being Catholic.
This is an odd and awkward film, but I think that's why I liked it. It's not so obtuse and out there in a David Lynch kind of way, but this is definitely a film for a limited audience. One reviewer on here (hypathio7) called it the New Fiddler on the Roof- something that actually fits quite well, I see it as a loose take on The Book of Job, but Fiddler works too.
The look of this film is just fantastic. Aesthetically and with the decor and stuff...wow...big noses, huge glasses...the hairstyles....the clothes...the cars...everything is top notch. They nailed the look of the late 60s perfectly. The music rules too, I love that Jefferson Airplane figures prominently into things, and works as a pay off to a great joke.
As should be expected, the writing, direction, and camera work are top-notch. Some have said that this is the type of movie you get to make after winning an Oscar. I agree. Burn After Reading was done after they won the Oscar, but after that, the Coens went all in on this, and as a result, have created one of their most astounding, meaty, and thought provoking films.
The performances are dynamite, and I like that the two most well known actors in the film are only like medium well known in the mainstream (Kind and Arkin). It was fun seeing Lerner in a brief cameo too (he has previously worked with the Coens for those who didn't know). Using unknowns for the rest of the cast was an excellent decision. I hope to see them in more films in the future.
Drawing on the counterculture, many aspects of Jewish culture and religion, personal experiences (although this film is not autobiographical), math and physics, and a ton of other stuff, this film is some heavy shit, but it's not ponderous, pretentious, or boring, even if it is rather slow. Yeah, it's not for everyone, but for those that can get on the wavelength, there is a lot of greatness to be found here.