A Serious Man

Brody 2022-03-23 09:01:48

University physics teacher Larry wrote a blackboard full of formulas and icons, turned around and told his students proudly that Schrödinger's cat had just been pushed out. Although Larry is a member of the Jewish community, he does not actually believe in God very much. God is sometimes just his spiritual sustenance when he is depressed. He prefers to use a blackboard calculation to calculate his life, as if everything can be answered. Accidents in life are nothing more than the remainder of hundreds of years of computer programs running. Ironically, Schrödinger's cat is the famous experiment in quantum mechanics that explains the uncertainty and randomness of the world. Is the fate of the universe determined by necessity or by chance? Are there hidden variables in the world we live in? Does God throw dice again?

Although the film does not have the murder plot that the Coen brothers are used to in previous movies, they used the superimposed method of nonsensical incidents that they are good at on Larry, making us feel that this man is pitiful. The sophistication of cash bribes by North Korean students, the bizarre behavior of his brother's singing in the middle of the night, the aggressive expressions of the neighbor's father and son, the pressure of promotion and the anonymous whistleblower letter that comes with it, and the methodical infidelity of his wife, it's all to Larry's " A straw has been placed on the belief that everything can be calculated. He still couldn't figure out why, he had always wanted to be a serious man, but he couldn't, realized that his destiny was starting to fail, so he asked God for help. God is sometimes invisible, and sometimes he can only be told to "perceive" to enjoy, or to preach a set of agnosticism that even the preacher himself does not understand. And the straw on Larry's body was getting heavier and heavier.

What does "Serious Man" want to say, in fact, the little story at the beginning of the film has already given the answer. Is the old man dead or alive? When you wake up the next day, will the old man lie down in a pool of blood, or disappear without a trace? It seems that you will only know until you wake up the next day, and at this moment, the old man is in a random state of being dead or alive, or they are in two parallel universes at all, the one that has been around since the Big Bang. Constantly mitotic parallel universes. What should the husband and wife do at this time, maybe they should lie down and get a good night's sleep. "Be comfortable with whatever happens to you - Rush".

http://imapollo.blogbus.com/logs/57527291.html

View more about A Serious Man reviews

Extended Reading
  • Vance 2022-03-28 09:01:02

    expression of wisdom

  • Monroe 2021-11-28 08:01:18

    if you serious you lose

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?