Cinema surveillance images are loading at the bottom of the page
A serious man - Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Richard Kind, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
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 (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 colleagues, 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 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?
Theatrical propaganda posters
Target demographic movie keyword propaganda
- Film comedy drama Jewish family professor relationship divorce university tenure moral dilemma
Persons of interest
- Adam Arkin .... Don Milgram
- Richard Kind .... Uncle Arthur
- George Wyner .... Rabbi Nachter
- Fyvush Finkel .... Reb Groshkover
- Michael Stuhlbarg .... Larry Gopnik
- Katherine Borowitz .... Mimi Nudell
- Raye Birk .... Dr Shapiro
- Amy Landecker .... Mrs Samsky
- Sari Lennick .... Judith Gopnik
- Fred Melamed .... Sy Ableman
- Allen Lewis Rickman .... Velvel
- Peter Breitmayer .... Gar Brandt
- Alan Mandell .... Rabbi Marshak
- Jessica McManus .... Sarah Gopnik
- Aaron Wolff .... Danny Gopnik
- Jim Brockhohn .... Red Owl Manager
- Andrew S Lentz .... Mark Sallerson
- Yelena Shmulenson .... Dora
- Ari Hoptman .... Arlen Finkle
- Benjy Portnoe .... Ronnie Nudell
- Ethan Coen .... Screenwriter
- Joel Coen .... Screenwriter
- Ethan Coen .... Director
- Joel Coen .... Director
Cinematic intelligence sources
- A serious man official movie sites:
- Australia
- International
- A serious man film production notes
- A serious man QuickTime movie trailers
- Awards and film festivals:
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2010: Nominated: Best picture, Original screenplay
- NB: English, Hebrew and Yiddish language dialogue
- Studios and distributors:
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
In A serious man, the Coen brothers do away with stereotypical filmic devices like plot and storyline and focus all their energies on character. Almost all the characters are Jewish-American, like the boys themselves, and the film loosely reflects their childhood experiences. Having seen this film I can tell you that it's no surprise how they turned out. The culture is bizarre, not the least because everyone speaks English (with occasional words from Hebrew and Yiddish); it's like going to England on the big OS and having to eat Marmite on your toast.
The humour is mildly dark as the protagonist is an ineffectual ditherer. He can't even manage to have sex with the horny housewife next door. His existential angst seems insuperable to him but you'll just want to reach up to the big screen and slap him. Oy.
You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy A serious man, but it helps.
And you thought rednecks were funny.
The comedy, drama movie A serious man is directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Richard Kind.
Government security censorship classification
M (Drug use, coarse language, sexual references and violence)
Surveillance time
105 minutes (1:45 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 19 November 2009
Cinema surveillance images
