Movies I Love (and so can you): A Serious Man (2009) [*Spoilers*]
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- Опубліковано 8 лис 2014
- "Oh, you didn't like Burn After Reading? Here, figure THIS one out, a**holes." ~Joel and Ethan Coen
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I think the moral is much simpler: action has consequences, but inaction has consequences as well
Adding to that is the fact that 'You shouldn't be afraid of the consequences of your actions.'
Sometimes you think that certain consequences match with your actions, but they really don't. So don't worry about it all too much.
I think the moral is much simple: We don't know anything.
It's all of that. But ultimately, Love is the answer.
Well said. I’ve seen some other analysis where it’s summed up as life having no control but that’s too simple. Him changing the grade and immediately receiving the phone call / the likely death of his son is way too intentionally linear to ignore.
Truth!
I think an important part that everyone seems to miss is during the pool scene, he tells his brother that he has to take things into his own hands and do something about them,but never applies that advice himself
+timfosho Precisely! And Arthur says "God hasn't given me shit, he gave you everything, you have a family, you have a job, I can't even play cards". That's when Larry kinda realizes that he has everything unlike Arthur, it's just that he needs to deal with them instead of wasting time finding answers, coz this is life and life has many problems, it's juts about how we deal with them. This is what the second Rabi says too, "these questions that are bothering you, Larry, are like toothache, feel them for a while then they go away". But the ultimate problem in life is death! And that you can't escape, that's the tornado at the end, the death!
It's empty advice, though. If the movie demonstrates anything, it's that there is nothing you can do to improve your circumstances.
In short:
If something bad happens to you, it is often not your fault.
If something good comes to you, it is often not by your doing.
You are often not in control.
Sometimes the answer is not yes or no. Sometimes it is something in between. Not everything is causality.
Larry doesn't get this. That is why he is afraid to act. The entire movie moves towards the point that he acts: turning a bad grade into a better grade. This in itself is questionable. It is not something a professor would do. It is a bad thing. The film ends just before real disasters will strike. But strike they will. We know that the X-rays aren't good. We know his son will die.
What will Larry make of it?
1.He will likely blame the 'consequences' of his bad action (the turning of an F into a C-), he will put the blame on himself for things that are out of his control. Catapulting him back into a life of inaction, too afraid to act. This is the most likely outcome. He says it himself, I didn't do anything ('to deserve this shit'). Still he got a shitty life to deal with.
2.On the other hand, it could get him out of the rut. Finally he does something 'bad' and he will be 'punished' for it, which is in a sense what he wants. Maybe that's what was needed to get on with his life. Finally he can be really blamed for something. Now he can move on.
3.Now that he finally did something, there are consequences. In his mind this is so. Whether these consequences match the actions they are attributed is something he might consider though. The fact that he is getting sick or that a storm kills his son had nothing to do with the fraud he committed. In that sense, nothing really has changed, he cannot really be blamed for those events. Whether he is a bad professor is irrelevant (or should be). So nothing changed after all, for the pseudorational mind anyway.
4.So is there another way how he could go on? (which is even better than the second possibility, where he at least isn't afraid to act anymore). Is there a way forward where he cannot only act, but be happy too? There is, the other way is this: *Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.*
On a side note:
The beginning scene matches with Schrodingers cat: Did the Rabbi die or not? Was he a dybbuk or not? The wife will say he was and that they are cursed because the man let him in. The husband will say he was not a dybbuk and that they are cursed because the woman killed him.
As long as the cat isn't dead or alive, it is in an intermediate state. The cat is both dead and alive, until you find out by opening the box. So who knows who is right? The reality of the cat is not to be found in one's own head. It cannot be found by thinking about it. Only by acting in reality and opening the box, you'll be able to find out.
Even the entire audience will try to match the events in this scene with the rest of the movie. Some saying those are the ancestors of Larry, where the curse has started. Some saying they are the quintessential jews, who must suffer always. Some say it is just a story about how people are. But there is no curse, not in Larry's family, not for Jews, not for people. All these are interpretations of the audience, which is in a sense a mirror of that same scene. I think the beginning scene has more in common with how people(the audience) try to find out what happened than with what happened to Larry in the movie. (although it also reflects how Larry views certain things).
The thing that puzzles me in the beginning scene, which might have a little sinister undertone, since it deviates from the happy happy joy joy explanation is the fact that the Rabbi refused to eat the soup... Would the wife still view him as a dybbuk if he had *received it with simplicity*? Is that also part of the lesson?Or would the wife conconct another reason to kill the poor old rabbi? But what if he really was a dybbuk? And here we go again...
This is very well said.
This might be the most thoughtful comment I've ever seen on UA-cam.
To the soup: I don't believe it is a contradiction of the concept of the Rabbi receiving with simplicity. I mean, if you are not hungry, what are you to do? I think it simply shows how one is free to interpret observations, for better or worse, act then the consequences of being an incorrect action or inaction. One can view not accepting an offer of soup as the person not being hungry or as evidence of his being a dybbuk.
Which is correct? I believe the Coens really just wanted to illustrate that there are consequences to both inaction (allowing a dybbuk into your home) or action (ice-picking the a decent old guy.) The right (self-preservational?) choice is not clear. It's the unknowable circumstances that will drive you mad.
I think you’re right. But I’d go further, I think they’re saying you almost never have control.
That's an interesting interpretation of "in short"
@@unprofound Dora picks salt. It is not ice.
The last 10mins of this film is just beautiful.
' We will move to the Synagogue Basement. You shall form 2 lines'
Followed by Larry writing C-(2 lines). Also 'The 'basement of the synagogue'.
?
One of my favorite films of all time. You had some really interesting things to say about it that I had not thought about at all. Very interesting. Keep making these.
Same here. One of my favourites. What a masterpiece.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies which I've never gotten to have a conversation with another person on -this video is awesome!
You hit so many points and brought forth some observations I hadn't even made before, great job, please keep up the good work!
Definitely want to rewatch the movie now.
I loved this movie before hand. I love it even more now. Fucking hell, how do you not have more subscribers?
Would you like the reasons alphabetically or chronologically?
MarcusHalberstram88 it was more of a hypothetical question. I mean, you're waaaayy cooler than that guy pewdiepie
+Movies I Love (and so can you) You do wonderful work!
Did you really just compared a movie analyst with Pewdiepie?
Best movie. A fantastic essay on life.
One of my favourites, too. Great commentary. Very much appreciated.
Makes you think about being a "good person", about the morale the world goes by, and about the existence of a celestial observer dispensing justice, or just monkeys, left to their own device. Fairness, good, justice. Does it have a point? Is it worth it? That quite a torment, storm or tornado to deal with.
You basically just managed to say in a short paragraph what I tried to get across in 11 and a half minutes.
(This is why I suck at Twitter)
It's a movie that has always sort of haunted me. So every now and then, I go back to those questions. It's one of those very few movies that stick with you. I appreciate that.
Love your channel, too. One of the best, in content and delivery; you're a great host.
Very nice analysis man. Well done. I love this movie. I already saw it like three times and I could easily watch it again. The movies of the Coen brothers have such a high replay-ability. They're my favorite directors for sure.
True, it's very rewatchable.
My favourite film and yet I struggle to recommend it to anybody. The first time I watched it, I HATED IT! A couple of weeks later it was still burning holes in my brain and at that point I realised it was quietly brilliant.
This is the best film related channel on UA-cam and easily my favorite video of yours; I'm not sure how many times I've viewed or recommended it but it easily tops the rest.
There is endless praise to be heaped here so I'll keep it simple. I liked how you framed the film through the words of Rash, "receive with simplicity everything that happens to you". I've not seen or read anyone else noting this. Bravo.
I also thought that the Yiddish couple in the opening scene are Larry’s great-great-grandparents, that they are cursed from the moment he finds the old rabbi on the road. But maybe we’re all looking for a deeper meaning that doesn’t exist (and the Coen Brothers are having a good laugh). Maybe it’s just a story about a guy who tries to do the right thing, but human nature just keeps getting in the way. For that matter, Mother Nature gets in the way too - the tornado, and Larry’s impending cancer diagnosis.
A Serious Man is an unbelievable but superb story !
God, I love all of these, please keep making more.
I've seen the movie for at least 5 times. This is a great take on it!
This sums up the film brilliantly. Thanks. Enjoyed that.
Thanks, great analysis of this wonderful enigmatic movie. I think you nailed it. Well as much as one can nail a riddle with no fixed answer :-)
And thank you very much for such a deep interpretation....i would not have got so many scenes without watching your video..totally awesome...i wonder do we have such audience to interpret themselves the actual hidden meaning in every small act in the movie and not saying 'whats going on?' which makes the audience a paradoxical part of the movie...thanks once again!!...ultimate movie.
Mere surmiser sir. Very uncertain.
Love this movie. Reflected an existential crisis via faith/belief vs. common sense/reason in a chaotic world where we're constantly trying to understand "what's going on?" The last seen of the tornado is a perfect metaphor for the chaotic, uncertain direction, and ominous possibility the future holds.
Great analysis, it helped clear things for me a little better. That being said I enjoyed the uniqueness of the film and its message, but I'll definitely will not be seeing it any time soon. It's a tedious piece of cinematic genius, it requires a lot from the viewer, and the way it's told is the biggest problem. At the same time I can't see it being told any other way.... In that case I'll just beat my head on the desk.
Probably the only movie nominated for Best Picture and nothing else.
I just saw this film. It left me baffled, but I knew I liked it. This really helped me lay it out in a digestible way. Thank you!
Great essay! You nailed why I love this move, and I didn't fully understand why I loved this movie.
I was binging videos and am pleased to find that someone actually had some fresh insight into this beyond the Job interpretation! Good work!
Thank you sooo much for this commentary! It really helped me with a University assignment!
Wow - I did not expect such a great review! Much respect. I agreed with some of what you said, that confirmed what I thought, and I learned a few things, and was delighted.
The way I've interpreted the ending is that Danny is about to give the money back to Fagle, but when he sees that the tornado is coming right towards Fagle he decides to wait, because if Fagle is taken by the tornado he can keep the money. The same way his father decides to keep the money that doesn't belong to him.
Very well done. And it reminded me what a phenomenal score the movie has.
Just watched the film and immediately found this video. Subscribed!
well done - great video.
this movie was delightfully confounding when I saw it in the theater ( but I am already in the bag for any Cohen Bros film). But the more I revisit the more I enjoy the hell out of it.
Great video. I love this movie and your analysis was spot on as usual.
Really enjoy your videos (this series in particular), thanks for this :)
This is a brilliant analysis.
This review is perfrctly imperfect, and imperfectly perfect. I shall unspokenly speak my feeling here. [thumb up]
Thx for helping me to understand this movie a little better.
Dude you are fucking killing it with these videos
Good job and thank you. Make more of these videos, cant wait till your next one
This is such a good interpretation!! And I think is sits perfectly with the sensation you get from watching the film. Because the everyday setting, and the characters, very simple, or ordinary but the movie has such strong force in it, the power of simplicity maybe?
Great analysis...I'm a big fan of this movie. Bit of a shame it doesn't have the same notoriety as other movies.
You must “accept the mystery” in life. There may be no why behind why things happen to you, even if they seem to have deeper meaning they don’t. There’s no deeper meaning to life you’re just meant to enjoy it and do the best you can. “Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.” It’s absurd to keep looking for meaning in a life that promises none.
I like the blackboard at 3:44. Looks the same as his brother's notebook.
Dude your description is on point.
holy shit i've always overlooked that fegel never showing his face was suppossed to represent the fear of facing your own problems. i've always paid attention to larrys storyline and never knew how much dannys contributed to it. now it makes so much sense with the whirlwind and fegel staring into the camera in the final scenes.
wow, i always liked this movie but now i want to watch it again! Subbed
this didn't show up in my subbox for some reason. glad i decided to check in.
Joel and Ethan once explained in an interview that the prologue has nothing to do with the rest of the story, it's just a short that they wanted to open the movie with
Excellent video :)
it was a real pleasure, thanks
Wonderful video! I've been a secret lurker to your channel for a while now. You are, no joke, one of my favorite movie reviewers. I guess my only quibble with ASM is the idea that doing bad as a reaction to adversity automatically leads to worse adversity. It makes sense to be good and to do good for good's sake. But I don't see a universe where doing bad (as a decision instead of as a byproduct of circumstance) inevitably leads to punishment. Do the Coens believe otherwise?
9:56 that painting on the left looks kind of like the dybbuk, haunting him from behind his shoulder.
Look at THAT parking lot (5:55), Larry...
I had a theory before watching this video that Larry giving Clive a C and succumbing to his blackmail had something to do with the final phone call, like that it was a punishment from Hashem for being weak-willed. Great minds think alike ;)
Fine praise and fair review... But Faith?!!! Would that it t'were so simple! If you wish to begin to unravel the puzzle of A Serious Man - and I assure you that it does exist - you may want to wade into a large and opaque book called Hamlet's Mill. The subject of the book is slow to reveal itself, but once you have it, the story of ASM - and I assure you it is one story - will present its figure. Of course, boning up on Marshall McLuhan can't hurt either, and certain of Joseph Campbell. To say the least (in the immortal words of Hobie Doyle) it's complicated.
My fav
So great
Mistake at 3:37. One of the squares in the definition of delta p has to be inside of the bracket. Otherwise always zero.
Great Analyse
We have to receive with simplicity all that happens to us as the audience. The opening of the film is the same kind of story as The Goy's Teeth. Neither story has a satisfying conclusion and its up to us to decide what has happened. The Coen brothers have always been ambiguous film makers, but this film holds a special place as they are making a movie about whether or not life can be understood. Life itself is ambiguous and there are no clear answers. "Accept Mystery" should be written on a t-shirt as it's an important lesson in being alright with how life works. Life itself is gods "Mentaculous" and only God understands its contents. The second rabbi nails in by essentially saying: "I don't know why things happen in life but, regardless of all that, just be a good person." The more you try to understand life the more confusing it is. This is why our main character is a math teacher. He wants to know how things work. But religion is the opposite of math. You can "get it" without understanding the equation. Without showing the proof or process.
At the end Larry makes a bad decision (changing the grade) and Danny makes a good decision (repaying his debt). Yet both end up punished.
Actually Danny doesn't give the money back. Right when he finally gets Fagle's attention, he realizes the tornado is coming right towards Fagle, and he doesn't say anything to him. The way I've interpreted that is that instead of doing the right thing, he decides to wait and see what happens to Fagle. It might even be a paralel with they way his father dealt with the Korean money. He also intended to give it back first, but ended up keeping it to see what happens (and finally gave in). At least that's what I took from it.
Trevor Reznik ahh so you think he was testing the boundaries of being good. Letting things slide to see what he might get away with.
"Gimme that fucker"
I LOOOOOOVED Burn After Reading and have no clue why people didn't like it.. also, Insidy Llewyn Davis is one of their best for sure. The only Coen films i didnt like were Ladykillers and O brother Where Art Thou. Great analysis, loved your video! subscribed.
Can you please do an analysis on Barton Fink?
Also some of your videos have been taken down, can you do something about them?
I love your work. I hope you keep it up and get the amount of subscribers you deserve.
Bob Pettersson I'm aware that In Bruges was taken down and that Fight Club is blocked in most countries. I'm working on both with UA-cam, but the little guy who no lawyers is usually secondary to the big companies making copyright claims, so it takes a while. In the meantime, the ones that have been taken down have been posted to vimeo.com/moviesilove, and I'm working on getting the rest of my videos uploaded there as well.
In terms of Barton Fink...shoot man, that one's a head-scratcher. I'm not sure what I could say about it (for now).
MarcusHalberstram88 Yeah UA-cam's copyright system has been screwing over content creators all over. I hope they get it worked out.
Yeah the reason I asked is because I watched it again today and it still puzzled me as much the first few times I watched it.
Anyways would you mind revealing what you're working on at the moment if anything?
+Movies I Love (and so can you) Yes man. Love your analysis. I'll also be waiting for Barton fink.
Thanks mate
thanks
your video is good. why does this have no view?
Very nice video. One thing that puzzles me is: is there a "deeper" meaning with all the stuff with the aerial? Larry climbs on the roof on a hot day and looks around to his neighborhood.... Then he spins the aerial....wait a sec: how can he hear the television on the roof!!? We get the picture that he adjusts the aerial on the basis of the sounds of television, don't we?!
Great video as always, but what is your interpretation of Larry's relationship with his hot neighbor? It's been a while since I saw the movie, but those scenes felt a bit misplaced to me the last time I did.
Hard question right out of the gate. This is all I got:
Larry gets some wandering eyes watching Mrs. Samsky sunbathe from the roof (which is possibly a Biblical reference to King David and Bathsheba?), but he never actually acts on that desire. He sleeps with her in his dream, but Sy Ableman interrupts and nails him into a coffin (possibly suggesting that his sex with Mrs. Samsky - lust/infidelity - nails him into his coffin). Given Larry's very first act of dishonesty results in dire punishment at the end, maybe this was in that same vein.
But shit, I don't know.
How about the scary neighbour?
I think the allusion to Job is apt; try one one might, there is no rescuing the tale from it's inane immorality.
"I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"
After 42 doleful chapters, this is Job's abject capitulation to the torments from his God. One can only conclude, from a sober reading, that Job's god is a sadist.
The song in 00:08
What song is that?
It remembers somebody to love, but it doesnt sound like any specific part
Is there a different version?
Can you do one of PULP FICTION? PLASEEEE
Marcus,
Thank you for your interesting comments on the film. I was struck by Larry's passivity, how he lets the world run him over again and again. He consequently has no spark, no aliveness that would draw more interesting, fresh, adventuress life experience to him. Instead, thinks he has to just sit and "take it" with equanimity but this is another expression of his passiveness. Do you think that it is an over simplification to see this as his essential problem?
I think blaming his misfortune at the end of the film on him succumbing to giving Clive a passing grade is bullshit.
this movie is at its root one of the most tender celebrations of American Jewishness on film. Larry has his trials, yes. And it’s a whole drama unto itself, for sure. But he can always come back to his belonging to a tribe. In the wild world that is his certainty, taken for granted.
Pretty good take. The Coen's often put thematic cues in the mouths of unsympathetic characters, such that they seem like jokes at first. So here with rabbis Scott and Nachtner. They both tell Larry to forget the deep mysteries, appreciate what he has, and do good in the world. Larry says, "I didn't do anything!" That's the point. He hasn't harmed the people in his life, but he hasn't been helped them either. He's passive. One thing you didn't note - there's a great 'unspoken' in the film, almost conspicuous by its absence, that adds some perspective if you think about it: the history of persecution against Jews. The parking lot IS a gift from Hashem because it's a SYNAGOGUE parking lot. On the trains to the death camps, who wouldn't have longed to drive freely in a late-model car and find an open space in a quiet parking lot outside a nice suburban Temple?
One quibble, Larry is NOT punished for passing Clive. The doctor is giving him results of tests taken at the very beginning of the film, and the tornado arrives before he writes down the grade. Everything bad that happens to Larry is the result of his own actions, or non-actions, before the action of the film begins...
its the story of Job old testament . Test of faith no resolve
Maybe the Coen brothers just threw dice in order to decide what happens next. That would be an efficient way to make The Real World creep into your story. Then you have deeply religious people trying to make sense of a morally neutral, random universe. Every once in a while something faith-affirming happens, but the rest of the time it just confuses them - and us, who are led to believe in a higher power at least in the movie's universe.
Are you a Psych major? I watched it twice before your analysis and didn't get 10% of what you clearly pointed out.
This already is my favorite movie. However, I disagree with you actions have consequences analysis. That is a moralistic, reductionist view of reality and of the Coen Brothers. Accept the mystery. By the way, Larry keeps saying he hasn't done anything because that's Job's claim, that he is a moral and upright man and doesn't deserve what he's getting. The book of Job is about the problem of evil. Bad things happen to good people. Also, your moralistic theory is debunked by the magnitude of the punishment. Accepting a $3,000.00 bribe should not be a capital offense either for Larry or his son. Furthermore, we don't know what happens to Larry at the doctor's office, and we don't know whether the children get inside before the tornado hits. The whole movie is purposely ambiguous. So, in a way, the Coen Brothers are laughing (in a gentle way) at those who opt for one interpretation over another. It says more about the interpreter than it does about the movie, which is entirely ambiguous. As for the message on the teeth, the rabbi points out that dentist stops thinking about it and just goes back to living, like we all do, once whatever arrested us subsides. We stop asking unanswerable, existential questions.
I felt like this is a criticism of religions, especially judaism, even though it's quite unlikely. That's because the rabbis and everyone claiming to be a moral authority has no real answers for anything, there's a man having real problems and all they can do is act as if they are just another example in a text book to reflect about. ''What did God mean by this?'' the rabbi says as he sees the protagonist going crazy.
4 people are not serious men. Clearly.
The problem with this movie is that the lesson most of the knuckle-dragging population will take from it is that "doing good" doesn't lead to a better life. It does. The LESSON is that bad things happen to good people sometimes, and that life isn't fair.
However, eternal restitution is. Remember, even Jesus, the Son of God, had the shit beat out of Him and was murdered on a tree.
The problem i have with this movie is that it doesnt treat you like an idiot, but it does treat you like a quivering pussy that has no backbone whatsoever. The protagonist lets people blatantly fuck him over with no resistance, and i almost feel as if the Coens think us, the watchers, as the protagonist. So in a way the movie actually is insulting my inteligence. Dunno, i might be wrong, would like to hear your opinion about this
For me, one of the main questions of this film (favourite of mine) is, *is there God* and the uncertainty we live in regarding that. This is a question that baffles many modern Jews and it's something the Coen brothers definitely thought about. It's uncertain, and life is uncertain, and that's the uncertainty principle that we can't really know what's going on, BUT we're responsible and we'll be judged at the end.
That's the opening scene, so uncertain. If there's god, this is a dubik and the woman has saved the home; if there is no god, this woman just cursed herself. That's how I understand the opening scene and I kind of neglect the hypothesis that these are Lary's ancestors who brought a curse upon him - although I think I've seen interviews with Michael Stuhlbarg where he mentioned he was supposed to play that man's part (and learn to speak Yiddish btw; eventually the Coen brothers decided to use professional actors knowing the language).
That's the dead cat's paradox - we can't really know what's going on, or is the cat dead or not dead, or if there's God, because we're outside the box. Or, rather - maybe we're inside that box and God presumably is or is not outside.
As for the three rabbis, they give the very same advice, however Lary is persistent in his attempts to *understand*, something that is just not permitted for him, so the last rabbi is open only to his legacy - his son. The advice they give is, accept the mystery of life with simplicity and meditative observation. And, as the last rabbi quotes the song, *love* is the main way to freedom from the baffling reality of this life.
The opening scene in the movie has nothing to do with anything. The Coen's have admitted they just included it because it entertained them as a skit. As far as the actual movie . . . you are indebted to God and God doesn't owe you anything in return, including answers. The theme is rather persistent and the movie isn't as complicated as a lot of people think it is.
MrDavid849 the opening scene is very important
@@49dwalin55 You're right. It initiates the whole theme of the movie- the uncertainty principle in action.
garbage movie. this is the lowest point of the directors carrier.
I wouldn't expect somebody who can't spell to "get" what's going on in this brilliant film.
Very astute. Great enhancer to an already terrific film.
Thanks.