About the connection between the title and the movie itself.

Annette 2022-03-22 09:01:41

Simply put. The scene at the beginning of the film is actually a microcosm of Larry's environment.
Can be compared.
1. There are three figures in the title. Husband, wife, friend mistaken for ghost. The husband nags and talks non-stop, and the wife taps the ice cubes indifferently, indifferent to what happened on the way home. Only care about today's harvest. until a familiar name is heard. The expression changed.
The same goes for Larry's life. The first thing his wife said to him was about the divorce, pointing directly to the key issues. This is middle-aged marriage.

2. The image of the wife is also consistent with Larry's wife in the title. Strong, domineering, and in a leadership position in the family. The wife at the beginning of the film suddenly stabbed a knife in the chest, and Larry's wife did not explain the real reason for the divorce like Larry from beginning to end. It shows that they belong to the same kind of people. But different times.

3. Consistency in the ending.
The position of the knife pierced near the heart, and the man insisted on walking out the door. In the night of the blizzard, his life and death were uncertain. And Larry's son fixedly looked at the tornado that swept in. What would the result be? unknown.

The only difference between the title and Larry's environment is.
In the title, the person who should have died in the mouth of the wife miraculously appeared in front of her eyes. Larry has always been serious about his life, but because of the people around him, he has endured pressure that should not belong to him. When all the crisis was being resolved slowly, he received a call that his X-rays were abnormal.

For two people who both believe in God. The ending is so dramatic. In a context that cannot be explained by human beings, we can only attribute everything to God. We try to ask God why these things happen, and what laws are the world and destiny obeying. But the three rabbis closest to God are all just playing word games. They are not gods after all.

To explain my personal point of view, to be honest I don't think I fully understand it. Many details cannot be explained. I just thought this movie wanted to make a point. It is the value of religious belief. Is there really a difference between believing and not believing? Will our lives change because of our faith?
Does the world really love the world as the religion preaches? If a person is tossed to death, scarred, and the only thing given is to let him go to heaven after he dies, can that be considered love? But if you don't believe it, how should we face and understand so many things that science can't explain, and so many coincidences? Who should I turn to for answers? ?

Since there is not much difference between believing and unbelieving, since we are faced with incomprehensible things, telling God will not give us the answer. Believe in a bird.

View more about A Serious Man reviews

Extended Reading
  • Claudie 2022-03-27 09:01:05

    I can't say it's bad, I can only say that the eccentricity of the Coen brothers and I are not the same, and we are not Jewish, so I can't understand their in jokes. The film was well done, but it still felt a little pretentious. If it was made by me, would Ebert and Scott think it was an extreme pretense, or would it be a profound philosophy?

  • Kacie 2022-04-24 07:01:05

    3.5 Brother Coen, I can't understand you more and more. . .

A Serious Man quotes

  • Larry Gopnik: She seems to be asking an awful lot. But then, I don't know. Somebody has to pay for Sy's funeral.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Uh-huh.

    Larry Gopnik: His own estate is in probate, but why does it have to be me? Or is it wrong to complain? Judy says it is. But I'm so strapped for cash right now, carrying the mortgage, and paying for the Jolly Roger, and I wrecked the car, and Danny's Bar Mitzvah coming up, I...

    Rabbi Nachtner: Something like this... there's never a good time.

    Larry Gopnik: I don't know where it all leaves me, Sy's death. Obviously it's not gonna go back like it was.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Mm. Would you even want that, Larry?

    Larry Gopnik: No, I- well, yeah... sometimes... or... I don't know; I guess the honest answer is "I don't know". What was my life before? Not what I thought it was. What does it all mean? What is Hashem trying to tell me, making me pay for Sy Ableman's funeral?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Mm.

    Larry Gopnik: And did I tell you I had a car accident the same time Sy had his? The same instant, for all I know. I mean, is Hashem telling me that Sy Ableman is me? Or that we are all one, or something?

    Rabbi Nachtner: How does God speak to us? A good question.

  • Rabbi Nachtner: You know Lee Sussman.

    Larry Gopnik: Doctor Sussman? I think I - yeah.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?

    Larry Gopnik: No... I- What goy?

    Rabbi Nachtner: So... Lee is at work one day; you know he has the orthodontic practice there at Great Bear. He's making a plaster mold - it's for corrective bridge work - in the mouth of one of his patients, Russell Kraus. The mold dries and Lee is examining it one day before fabricating an appliance. He notices something unusual. There appears to be something engraved on the inside of the patient's lower incisors. He vav shin yud ayin nun yud. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me, save me". This in a goy's mouth, Larry. He calls the goy back on the pretense of needing additional measurements for the appliance. "How are you? Noticed any other problems with your teeth?" No. There it is. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me". Son of a gun. Sussman goes home. Can Sussman eat? Sussman can't eat. Can Sussman sleep? Sussman can't sleep. Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, goy and Jew alike, seeking other messages. He finds none. He looks in his own mouth. Nothing. He looks in his wife's mouth. Nothing. But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world's greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah. He knows that every Hebrew letter has its numeric equivalent. 8-4-5-4-4-7-3. Seven digits... a phone number, maybe? "Hello? Do you know a goy named Kraus, Russell Kraus?" Who? "Where have I called? The Red Owl in Bloomington. Thanks so much." He goes. It's a Red Owl. Groceries; what have you. Sussman goes home. What does it mean? He has to find out if he is ever to sleep again. He goes to see... the Rabbi Nachtner. He comes in, he sits right where you're sitting right now. "What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from Hashem, 'Help me'? I, Sussman, should be doing something to help this goy? Doing what? The teeth don't say. Or maybe I'm supposed to help people generally, lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me, Rabbi, what can such a sign mean?"

    [pause as the Rabbi drinks his tea]

    Larry Gopnik: So what did you tell him?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Sussman?

    Larry Gopnik: Yes!

    Rabbi Nachtner: Is it... relevant?

    Larry Gopnik: Well, isn't that why you're telling me?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Okay. Nachtner says, look. The teeth, we don't know. A sign from Hashem? Don't know. Helping others... couldn't hurt.

    Larry Gopnik: No! No, but... who put it there? Was it for him, Sussman, or for whoever found it, or for just, for, for...

    Rabbi Nachtner: We can't know everything.

    Larry Gopnik: It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tell me the story?

    Rabbi Nachtner: [chuckling] First I should tell you, then I shouldn't.

    Larry Gopnik: What happened to Sussman?

    Rabbi Nachtner: What would happen? Not much. He went back to work. For a while he checked every patient's teeth for new messages. He didn't find any. In time, he found he'd stopped checking. He returned to life. These questions that are bothering you, Larry - maybe they're like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then they go away.

    Larry Gopnik: I don't want it to just go away! I want an answer!

    Rabbi Nachtner: Sure! We all want the answer! But Hashem doesn't owe us the answer, Larry. Hashem doesn't owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.

    Larry Gopnik: Why does he make us feel the questions if he's not gonna give us any answers?

    Rabbi Nachtner: He hasn't told me.

    [Larry puts his face in his hands in despair]

    Larry Gopnik: And... what happened to the goy?

    Rabbi Nachtner: The goy? Who cares?