A Serious Man (2009)

Larry Gopnik is a very serious man indeed. Or at least, he tries awfully hard to be. But Larry doesn't seem to be in on the great cosmic joke, despite the fact that its at his expense.

The Cohen brother's latest film, A Serious Man, is a very personal film. Certainly for the brothers, who grew up in a Jewish community in Minneapolis during the 60's, but I meant for all of us. It asks the questions that, in our most desperate hours, we all lie awake at night whispering to ourselves, "Why me? What have I done to deserve this?" And for the character of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish physics professor at a Minneapolis college, the answers to these questions appear to be...nothing. Larry's wife announces suddenly that she wants a divorce, his tenure is being threatened by anonymous vilifying letters, a disgruntled student seems to be attempting to blackmail him, And yet there are no answers, even from his rabbis, that can satisfactorily explain why.

Larry tries so hard to live righteously and his sense of moral compass is strong throughout the film. He understands his duty to his family, his institution, and his religion, but it begins to give way under all the trials he endures: his dreams become erotic and violent, and finally he is forced to face the greatest temptation: to try and erase one problem with another.

The film itself is full of uncertainty. We are unsure as an audience when to laugh or when to cringe. The film begins with a prologue which establishes this are the film's central question: what can man be certain of? and how does the reality that can be seen and experienced, what man often claims as "truth", give way to his superstitions and metaphysical beliefs?

I have heard it said that the Cohen bothers are the quintessential postmodern filmmakers. But I wonder if this film is about the clash of post-modern thought and the Jewish tradition, or more simply about the idea of logic versus faith. As a professor of physics, Larry understands all the math; math can be contained in its own world, the world of theory and the page. However, once the math is released from these confines, when the math leaps off the giant chalkboard, when Schodinger's cat breathes air, and the apparent 'randomness' and 'paradoxes' that plague his mathematical theorems come to life, Larry is left drowning in a sea of questions he does not have the answers to. Like why God would allow us to question without ever giving us the answers.
It has been remarked that A Serious Man is simply a retelling of the Biblical story of Job. While the story may be the same, the message is not. Larry, like Job, has everything taken from him with no apparent reason why. As a Christian, I always struggled with the book of Job. Would would God allow bad things happen to good people, the serious men of this world?

I remember hearing a professor speak on the book of Job. I will never forget what he said. He warned that perhaps when we, like Job, are too focused on pondering the problem of evil that we do not fathom the problem of grace. For Christians, this grace and salvation are not things we earn, but things we are given, as a free gifts from the God who loves us more deeply than we could possibly comprehend. We do not deserve it in any possible way and the good acts we do are not a means of obtaining salvation, but a means of demonstrating our joint reception of the promises of God in Christ. However, because all men have fallen short of God's glory, judgement can fall upon us just as swiftly. Larry does not choose to look upon God as an almighty savior, but simply as an aggressor. Perhaps this is where Larry's and Job's stories diverge. Larry's story ends where it began, in uncertainty. But Job, through his recognition of the sovereignty of God is restored beyond his previous blessings.

But I think, despite his rather laughable way of stating it, that the Junior Rabbi was the closest to being right; that perhaps we just need to change our perspective. That God may not provide us with the direct answers to the conundrums of our individual situations, but that God has provided us with the evidence of His divine nature and power. Its not enough just to sit and contemplate the problem of evil, when we should in fact be contemplating the problem of grace. That although disaster may come like a great unstoppable tornado, we have to trust that the God who gives us this grace will get us through the storm.