It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman.
Nominated for 2 Oscars. 17 wins & 80 nominations total
Top Critics Reviews
fresh:
Mostly, A Serious Man succeeds because it engages questions worth asking. What is integrity? Does our atavistic need for stories illuminate the meaning of life or further obfuscate it? What does it mean to be good and how are we to achieve it?
– Ann Hornaday,
Washington Post,
16 Oct 2009
fresh:
Their most inside joke ever, it leaves you with a lot to chew on, if not a lot to enjoy.
– Roger Moore,
Orlando Sentinel,
21 Oct 2009
fresh:
The film's potency is rooted in quiet precision and detailed realisation. Roger Deakins's typically polished photography gives an oppressively hard edge to Midwestern suburbia.
– Ben Walters,
Time Out,
20 Nov 2009
fresh:
If you're puzzled by the Coen Brothers' horrific comedies, this is the closest thing you'll get to an explanation.
– Rafer Guzman,
Newsday,
6 Jul 2010
fresh:
The Coens may play around with that tradition, they may disparage it or mock it. But they are irrevocably a part of it, and that's all to the good.