Brief synopsis: Larry Gopnik has always tried to be a serious man. He’s a devout Jew, a family man for his wife and two children, and a dedicated mathematics professor at a local college. But this is a Coen Brothers film, which means everything Larry loves is about to be taken away. In the Coens’ typical dark comedic fashion, Larry’s life turns into a modern day version of Job from the Old Testament. His wife, Judith, matter-of-factly tells her husband she’s leaving him for Sy Ableman and she’s filing for divorce. Larry’s overbearing brother, Arthur, is staying with them and is facing criminal charges of gambling and solicitation. Larry’s application for tenure is up for review and is causing Larry all sorts of grief, especially after a Korean exchange student attempts to bribe Larry for better marks. And…then there’s the fact Larry’s children are stealing money from him, his next-door neighbor is ignoring property lines, and a femme fetale unexpectedly enters his life. It seems as though God has cruelly aligned fortune’s wheel to make Larry’s existence a living hell, and so Larry seeks out the guidance of three rabbis — most of all, the elderly one known as Marshak. Becoming a serious man has never been so serious.
I love the screenplay for A Serious Man because it’s so uniquely god-awful to its characters. The tone, the feeling of the movie…you sense it as soon as you dive into the script. It’s cynical but upbeat; witty but straightforward; philosophical, but down to earth — there’s a natural rhythm to the dialogue that makes it easy to understand the personalities of all the characters simply by reading it. It’s more fun to read a screenplay than it is to read someone’s writing about reading someone’s writing (does that makes?), so there’s a brief excerpt attached below from one of my favorite pieces of conversation. In this scene, Larry seeks the advice of a young rabbi named Rabbi Scott, but Rabbit Scott clearly has no idea what advice to give. It gives you a good picture of Larry’s character arc: searching for existential answers but never finding any. The frustration leaps off the page, as the young rabbi sounds close to providing a meaningful answer, but instead comes off as incredibly unhelpful and inexperienced.