Why So ‘Serious’?

The wrath of God takes many forms in “A Serious Man,” the most subtle of which is a bill collector who calls the movie’s hero at his office for an outstanding debt on some records that were mailed to him. Even though the guy from Columbia House is certain that Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is the man he’s looking for, Larry tells him that there must be some kind of mistake, and that he didn’t ask for any of these records. Still, he’s told that he has been getting records for months – indeed, he just received “Abraxas” by Santana – and that he’s responsible to pay for all of them. Just when Larry’s about to cave under the pressure, he’s told that his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is on the other line, ready to chime in with some new torture back at home.

Larry’s not your typical Coen brothers hero, nor is this your typical Coen brothers movie. They usually deal with colorful characters who get more than they bargained for in bizarre capers, but all Larry does is suffer quietly at home while he makes a living teaching labyrinthine formulas as a physics professor in the Midwest, where the liberal milieu of 1967 is still a mere rumor passed around by the young folks. As if having few blessings to count weren’t enough, he senses them slipping through his fingers one by one when a series of unfortunate events turn up, putting his faith in a higher power to the test – for him, life’s a cosmic joke cooked up by a God who’s either vengeful, silent or absent altogether.

Although Larry’s plight makes him something of a modern-day Job, at least Job’s marriage managed to stay afloat. His wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), tells Larry that she’s kicking him out, and that she and their mutual friend, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), have been getting close since his wife died three years ago. Judith tells him that Sy wants them to go through a get, a religious procedure for Jews getting divorced, making the decision valid in the eyes of God. In the meantime, Judith sends Larry to a motel with another casualty of her new freedom: His brother, Arthur (Richard Kind), a weirdo who’s in between jobs.

The ground at his office isn’t any less shaky. His chances at getting tenure have gotten slimmer ever since a series of letters shoveling mud on his name were sent to the college where he teaches, even though the head of the tenure committee (Ari Hoptman) assures Larry that the letters aren’t cause for alarm. Larry’s also troubled by a Korean student (David Kang) who attempts to give him money under the table to reconsider the grade he got on his midterm, or else his family will hit him with a lawsuit. Along with all of the things that Larry’s juggling already, Danny has his bar mitzvah in another two weeks, although he’d much rather stay at home and watch “F Troop.”

The interesting thing about “A Serious Man” is how satisfying it manages to be in spite of all the human suffering it focuses on, particularly with all those Jewish anecdotes, which are as nebulous as they are problematic. The first one takes place in Eastern Europe, where a small house gets a strange visit one night during a snowstorm – it’s about as maddening as the film’s finale, which might make some viewers feel as if they’ve been toyed with. You’d think they’d handle a little cosmic joke better.