Rabbi Nachtner: How does God speak to us? A good question. You know Lee Sussman?
Larry Gopnik: Doctor Sussman? I think I - yeah.
Rabbi Nachtner: Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?
Larry Gopnik: No... I- What goy?
Rabbi Nachtner: So... Lee is at work one day; you know he has the orthodontic practice there at Great Bear. He's making a plaster mold - it's for corrective bridge work - in the mouth of one of his patients, Russell Kraus. The mold dries and Lee is examining it one day before fabricating an appliance. He notices something unusual. There appears to be something engraved on the inside of the patient's lower incisors. He vav shin yud ayin nun yud. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me, save me". This in a goy's mouth, Larry..... Sussman goes home. Can Sussman eat? Can Sussman sleep? ......Sussman is an educated man. Not the world's greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah. He knows that every Hebrew letter has its numeric equivalent. 8-4-5-4-4-7-3. Seven digits... a phone number, maybe? ..........He has to find out if he is ever to sleep again. He goes to see... the Rabbi Nachtner. He comes in, he sits right where you're sitting right now. "What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from Hashem, 'Help me'? I, Sussman, should be doing something to help this goy? Or maybe I'm supposed to help people generally, lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me, Rabbi, what can such a sign mean?"
Larry Gopnik: So what did you tell him?
Rabbi Nachtner: Sussman?
Larry Gopnik: Yes!
Rabbi Nachtner: Is it... relevant?
Larry Gopnik: Well, isn't that why you're telling me?
Rabbi Nachtner: Okay. Nachtner says, look. The teeth, we don't know. A sign from Hashem? Don't know. Helping others... couldn't hurt.
Larry Gopnik: No! No, but... who put it there? Was it for him, Sussman, or for whoever found it, or for just, for, for...
Rabbi Nachtner: We can't know everything.
Larry Gopnik: It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tell me the story? What happened to Sussman?
Rabbi Nachtner: What would happen? Not much. He went back to work. For a while he checked every patient's teeth for new messages. He didn't find any. In time, he found he'd stopped checking. He returned to life. These questions that are bothering you, Larry - maybe they're like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then they go away.
A Serious Man is another black comedy from the Coen brothers which is set in 1967 and is about a Physics Professor, Larry Gopnik, whose life unravels and goes from one trouble to another and there seems to be no end in sight to it.
Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) leads a mundane life with his family and his eccentric brother, though things are about to get interesting which are certainly not in the way one wishes. A Korean student with a failing grade in his subject tries to bribe him while also trying to sue him for defamation. Larry also starts receiving letters from someone who seems bent on destroying his career and ruining his chances of getting tenure at the university. If his troubles at work weren't enough, his wife tells him she is leaving him for Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed) and they both would prefer if he can move out of the house and stay somewhere else. His daughter seems to be stealing money from his wallet for a nose job while his son has subscribed to the Columbia records without his permission. When Larry hears Sy Abelman has died of a car crash, his wife insists they have to pay for the funeral. As Larry finds himself strapped for cash, he wonders in front of the Rabbi if his religion requires him to pay for Sy's funeral and if it would be the right thing to do.
As matters complicate further, Larry finds himself on the verge of a nervous breakdown and feels a senior Rabbi, Rabbi Marshak, would have all the answers to his troubles. The Coens' again take us back to the same Uncertainty Principle while Larry tries to teach his class about the mathematics behind the Schrodinger's Cat puzzle. Just like the cat which is both dead and alive in Schrodinger's thought experiment, Larry isn't quite sure which state he is in.
Life - The eternal puzzle |
This could be easily the best film from the Coen brothers after giving us some classics such as The Man Who Wasn't There and No Country For Old Men. The movie has an unpredictable ending that just shows us a glimpse of what's about to come- as always, things can only get worse. What's left unsaid is probably captured in the tag line of the movie- Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you. LOL.
Rating: 8/10
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