Larry the ill-fated protagonist of the Cohen brothers’ dark comedy “A Serious Man” asks a very reflexive and dumb question throughout the movie “What’s going on?” It’s a question he asks in response to a series of events that tear Larry’s quiet suburban life apart.
First, his wife demands a divorce then his wife’s lover dies and he has to pay for it, then his student tries to blackmail him for a passing grade. Then his brother gets in deep with the law and Larry has to pay for it, and more events follow. Like most of the Cohen brothers’ movies each of the situations compound and unfold into each other with mathematical precision. Each of these situations individually brings about their batch of themes. And taken together they shape out the central theme and message of the movie. Like one of those dot paintings where all the dots together come about to show you the complete picture.
Larry wants to understand what he has done to deserve such misfortune seemingly unaware of what the audience can see clearly that it’s Larry’s inaction that causes his problems. Larry understands the old fable “Actions have consequences”.
But inaction has consequences too, instead of grappling with this fact Larry looks for a way to interpret his suffering. So Larry takes the counsel of three Rabbis. Who turns out to be of no help and two of them give him the same old burned out one-liners about changing one’s perspective and telling Larry parables about God’s plan. The third who even refuses to meet Larry physical defining the heavenly silence in the face of big questions we all have heard from religion.
Like Larry, we need to realize the consequences of inaction so really think about whenever you fail at something not “What did I do to deserve this?” but “What I didn’t do?”.
Problem with interpretation
At the start of the movie, we have a prologue, a short fable in a different aspect ratio about a Jewish couple in the old country. Who stab and kill either a good Samaritan or a demon. Its meaning and relationship to the movie don’t really matter. There is just enough content similarity to prompt interpretation but once you try, the only outcome is frustration. Moving the viewer into that headspace is a stroke of genius Cohen brothers have been doing in most of their movies but “A Serious Man” is their best execution of it. This philosophy that remains skeptical about the things we believe film, story, and interpretation can do. It understands that the big philosophical truths of life are devastatingly simple.
There is no God
There is no objective to life
There is no cosmic purpose
People are happy in varying amounts but everyone suffers. Anyone and can understand this with a little bit of observation, introspection, and study and once you get this. You might either feel dim and disheartened about life or feel relief to finally put down these questions which are just a waste of time.
Only then can better questions can be asked.
I really can’t tell you what those questions are, they are different to each individual. I am just a kid who watched a movie and interpreted it In my own way. At the end of the day, that’s is how we nail down the world around us interpretation, understand what’s happening. The way I and many others interpreted this movie.