I felt like writing about the Coen Brother’s ‘A serious man’. I think it is perhaps their best movie yet and I like it especially because of its Jewish setting and story-line. More important it is a profoundly philosophical and existential movie which though labeled a comedy, could just as easily have been labeled a tragedy. It’s a movie that can make you laugh out loud but is just as likely to make you sob and binge on alcohol, all depending on the mood you’re in while watching it. It’s a real tragicomedy, like life itself.
The movie opens with a quote from Rashi:
Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.
The main character Larry Gopnik gets introduced in the movie while trying to explain the math behind Schrödingers Paradox on a large chalkboard. Shortly after the professor gets a visit from Korean exchange student Clive, who complains about failing his midterm exams.
“Uh, Dr. Gopnik, I believe the results of Physics Mid-Term were unjust.
“Uh-huh, how so?”
“I received an unsatisfactory grade. In fact: F, the failing
grade.”
“Uh, yes. You failed the mid-term. That’s accurate.”
“Yes, but this is not just. I was unaware to be examined on
the mathematics.”
“Well-you can’t do physics without mathematics, really, can you.”
“If I receive failing grade I lose my scholarship, and feel
shame. I understand the physics. I understand the dead cat.”
“You understand the dead cat?”
“But… you… you can’t really understand the physics
without understanding the math. The math tells how it
really works. That’s the real thing; the stories I give you in
class are just illustrative; they’re like, fables, say, to help
give you a picture. An imperfect model. I mean-even I
don’t understand the dead cat. The math is how it really
works.”
This dialogue is crucial for understanding the movie. Larry Gopnik isn’t certain at all and admits he doesn’t really understand the dead cat. He only knows the math. It’s a funny scene, but important in that it offers insight into the mindset of the main character.
Soon Larry discovers Clive tries to bribe him into passing his midterm when he finds an envelope with dollar bills on his desk. At first this causes outrage with Larry, but as further unfortunate events unfold in the movie he starts to seriously consider passing Clive.
As the movie progresses, Larry experiences ever more setbacks and soon imagines himself like the biblical character Job, and while perhaps initially laughing at him, you honestly start to feel sorry for Larry. At least I did. But the true tragedy of ‘A Serious Man’ is how Larry deals with his setbacks. His whole life is seemingly falling apart and think as he might as a physicist, he finds no sense behind it. And so he acts like a deer caught in the headlights, he freezes.
In another scene we witness a dream Larry is dreaming. He dreams that he is in front of his class writing out the math behind the ‘uncertainty principle’. He has written an enormous equation covering the whole of the chalkboard.
. and that means… so that… from which we derive…
and also.. which lets us… and…
Okay?
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
His dream tries to speak to him, but he ignores his dream. In a quest for answers Larry visits three consecutive rabbi’s for advice. What should he do, why are all these setbacks coming at once and why him? We’ve all asked these questions. Well, most Jews certainly did. Like I said, it’s a very Jewish movie.
Does he find an answer with the Rabbi’s? Does he take the bribe from Clive at the end of the movie?
Here’s the lesson I took from the movie:
In life, you can choose to be good and do good deeds, but there is no reward, or you can choose to be bad and you might get away without punishment. We can live careful and responsible lives making minor mistakes, but one minor mistake can end up being of great consequences and we all make mistakes. Just as easily we can choose to live life dangerously and make all the mistakes in the book, and die without regrets in old age.
Some of us (blessed are the ignorant…) look for a meaning to our misery, especially if we feel we don’t deserve it, but no matter how hard we try we will never get the answers and die clueless. All we can hope for is that our life was somehow meaningful and rewarding, but there are no guarantees. No guarantees. At all. That’s the scary part. Yet even if life is hard on you, you can still choose to do good regardless, you can always choose for good.
And Rashi was probably right; ‘receive everything that happens to you with simplicity’. Easier said than done. Good luck to all of us.
The serious man is in all of us. I’ve felt like him a lot. In fact, my advice; don’t watch this movie when you’re down. A Serious man painfully illustrates the feelings of impotence we can encounter in our day to day struggle with life.
