A Serious Man (2009)
Written, Produced, Directed by: Coen Brothers
You follow all the rules laid out by elders before you. You think living should be easy when you stick to the teachings of your religion of your belief. You know that God should pave a beautiful life when you follow His teachings. You think you made it when all these are followed and you are in the upper crust of society. Then it hits you; one malady after another - people whom you are under your wings are beyond control; values that you taught to your offsprings go to the drain; the humility that you think is a virtuous trait that makes a man is taken advantage of; you lose grip on the things you hold dear and then you start questioning, “Why God, why are doing this to me? Have I not followed all your guidance?”
Professor Larry Gopnik thought he had a leash on everything in life, just like his ability to explain mind boggling equations in physics and to solve the equation of uncertainty! Almost overnight, everything crumbles. His wife wants a divorce to marry his friend. His student tries to bribe him for better grades but instead accused him of lying and threatens to sue for slander when he reports. There is no peace in the house as his two kids are forever fighting. His son has his own set of problems in school. He is experimenting with dope. His daughter is pilfering money from wallet to get a nose job. Larry’s brother who bunked in turns out to take permanent residence in his house. He is engulfed in his own world and the police walk in when he gets involved in gambling. Larry also has to babysit him to give emotional support. He fears his hostile neighbour may be an aggressive anti-Semantic as Larry is a Jew. His tenure at the university may not be renewed. He gets into a nasty accident. His wife’s soon-to-be new husband too gets involved in another accident but dies! Larry also has to support his funeral arrangements. He realises that his finances are low as his wife had been withdrawing on the sly from their joint account. He seeks religious solace from people of high standings in the temple to rectify the matter. Unfortunately, they are all withdrawn from reality. They talk in riddles, probably not knowing the answers themselves! What he gets instead is a runaround.
There is plenty of temptation to stray from the path but he stays steadfast to his ways. Somehow, everything seems to fall into place after his son’s religious initiation, the bar mitzvah. His tenure gets renewed. But wait, is it all really all right? He gets a call from the hospital asking him to come in urgently to discuss his recent Xray....
At one point in everybody’s life, he is bound to question the meaning of it all. When the tide is low, he may ask whether his Maker had abandoned him. He will seek explanations as he always does in the hope of rectifying the shortcomings as most problems in the world can be solved if the cause is found. He would soon realise that all his pondering does not yield any answers but instead more questions. People will give tangential responses. They would say that He will overcome. At the end of the day, you get by, coming in term with the predicament. You would interpret an individual event as a favourable, renew your faith and carry on with life.
Written, Produced, Directed by: Coen Brothers
You follow all the rules laid out by elders before you. You think living should be easy when you stick to the teachings of your religion of your belief. You know that God should pave a beautiful life when you follow His teachings. You think you made it when all these are followed and you are in the upper crust of society. Then it hits you; one malady after another - people whom you are under your wings are beyond control; values that you taught to your offsprings go to the drain; the humility that you think is a virtuous trait that makes a man is taken advantage of; you lose grip on the things you hold dear and then you start questioning, “Why God, why are doing this to me? Have I not followed all your guidance?”
Professor Larry Gopnik thought he had a leash on everything in life, just like his ability to explain mind boggling equations in physics and to solve the equation of uncertainty! Almost overnight, everything crumbles. His wife wants a divorce to marry his friend. His student tries to bribe him for better grades but instead accused him of lying and threatens to sue for slander when he reports. There is no peace in the house as his two kids are forever fighting. His son has his own set of problems in school. He is experimenting with dope. His daughter is pilfering money from wallet to get a nose job. Larry’s brother who bunked in turns out to take permanent residence in his house. He is engulfed in his own world and the police walk in when he gets involved in gambling. Larry also has to babysit him to give emotional support. He fears his hostile neighbour may be an aggressive anti-Semantic as Larry is a Jew. His tenure at the university may not be renewed. He gets into a nasty accident. His wife’s soon-to-be new husband too gets involved in another accident but dies! Larry also has to support his funeral arrangements. He realises that his finances are low as his wife had been withdrawing on the sly from their joint account. He seeks religious solace from people of high standings in the temple to rectify the matter. Unfortunately, they are all withdrawn from reality. They talk in riddles, probably not knowing the answers themselves! What he gets instead is a runaround.
There is plenty of temptation to stray from the path but he stays steadfast to his ways. Somehow, everything seems to fall into place after his son’s religious initiation, the bar mitzvah. His tenure gets renewed. But wait, is it all really all right? He gets a call from the hospital asking him to come in urgently to discuss his recent Xray....
At one point in everybody’s life, he is bound to question the meaning of it all. When the tide is low, he may ask whether his Maker had abandoned him. He will seek explanations as he always does in the hope of rectifying the shortcomings as most problems in the world can be solved if the cause is found. He would soon realise that all his pondering does not yield any answers but instead more questions. People will give tangential responses. They would say that He will overcome. At the end of the day, you get by, coming in term with the predicament. You would interpret an individual event as a favourable, renew your faith and carry on with life.
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