This dark comedy from Joel & Ethan Coen is a distillation of some of the duo’s most potent themes. Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is our Job figure, a physics professor in suburban Minneapolis who finds his life falling apart both personally and professionally. The principle of uncertainty, introduced early in the film via Schroedinger’s famous cat, becomes a kind of guiding metaphor as Larry navigates the limits of 1960s Jewish faith. Both riotously funny and tempted towards the nihilistic, A Serious Man isn’t ultimately concerned with theodicy or the existence of God; Hashem’s presence is taken for granted. Rather, the question is “What does he want from me?” and even more frighteningly, “Does it really matter?” – Anders Bergstrom (2014)
- Directed by: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
- Produced by: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
- Written by: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
- Music by: Carter Burwell
- Cinematography by: Roger Deakins
- Editing by: Ethan Coen Joel Coen
- Release Date: 2009
- Running Time: 105
- Language: English, Yiddish
Arts & Faith Lists:
2014 Top 25 Divine Comedies — #3
2020 Top 100 — #68