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Poster for A Serious Man

A Serious Man

Accept mystery.

2009 · 1h 46m · R Comedy, Drama
Directed by Ethan Coen , Joel Coen

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Overview

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.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
89%
Tomatometer
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.

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
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
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
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
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

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