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[Life]is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing [From Shakespeare's Macbeth; V.v. 25–27].
I cannot remember when nihilism and disunion have been as entertaining as in Joel and Ethan Coen's (2009) wonderful film, A Serious Man. In the film, the brothers weave a tapestry of brilliant stories; but, on close examination, the stories do not necessarily cohere. The tapestry ends up torn and tattered. In this review, I look at some of the stories in the film and what the Coen brothers seem to be saying about the narratives we construct to explain our lives.
The main story concerns Larry Gopnik (played by Michael Stuhbarg). Poor, perplexed Larry is having a seriously bad time. Father, husband, physics professor, and committed conservative Jew, he is the hero and a decidedly serious man. When we meet him, Larry's world is suddenly falling apart, with nothing turning out as planned. His life—every relationship, every encounter—is one large impingement. There are ordinary impingements: battling, demanding, self-centered kids; a complaining wife; fuzzy TV reception; and dunning phone calls from the Columbia Record Club.
But recently, exceptional impingements also beleaguer Larry. These are variously funny, threatening, and even ominous. For example, Larry's supercilious and contemptuous wife, Judith (played by Sari Lennick), kicks him out of the house as she prepares to leave the marriage for the smug and unctuous community pillar, Sy Ableman (a delicious performance by Fred Melamed). Abelman embodies the values of Larry's Jewish culture while, at the same time, hypocritically betraying those values. As he is seducing Judith, he insinuates himself into Larry's personal space with feigned concern, aggressive hugs, and gratuitous clichés. Abelman has both the manner and the soft, sibilant voice of the Biblical Serpent.
Some of the many other impingements include a sinister Korean student (played by David Kang), who tries to bribe Larry to change an “F”