Official Movie Website Theatrical Release 10/16/09 Home Video Not Available MPAA Rating Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence Running Time 1 hour 45 minutes Genre Drama, Comedy Director Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Writer Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Cast Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf, Sari Wagner, Jessica McManus, Adam Arkin Studio Focus Features |
A SERIOUS MAN (2009)
SYNOPSIS
Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial
responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena,
academia, mortality, and Judaism – and intersections
thereof – A SERIOUS MAN is the new film from
Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and
Ethan Coen.
A SERIOUS MAN is the story of an ordinary man’s
search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson
Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967,
and Larry Gopnik (Tony Award nominee Michael
Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern
university, has just been informed by his wife Judith
(Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in
love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy
Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more
substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s
unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping
on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is a
discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and
his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching
money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose
job.
While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new
domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes
Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial
responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena,
academia, mortality, and Judaism – and intersections
thereof – A SERIOUS MAN is the new film from
Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and
Ethan Coen.
A SERIOUS MAN is the story of an ordinary man’s
search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson
Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967,
and Larry Gopnik (Tony Award nominee Michael
Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern
university, has just been informed by his wife Judith
(Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in
love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy
Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more
substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s
unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping
on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is a
discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and
his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching
money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose
job.
While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new
domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes
© 2003 St. Louis Movie Review Weekly. All rights reserved, except where indicated.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
All movie titles, pictures, etc...are the property of their respective studios.
| ST. LOUIS MOVIE REVIEW WEEKLY |
more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry’s chances for
tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade
while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door
torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different
rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a
serious man?--© Focus Features
tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade
while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door
torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different
rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a
serious man?--© Focus Features
