Video Essay: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"

A video essay by Philip Brubaker exploring the character of Larry Gopnik from the Coen brothers’ 2009 film, A SERIOUS MAN, and how an academic can lose faith in himself. For the accompanying text, visit the Notebook: http://mubi.io/2oV4vlb
Larry is not interested in stories. He likes equations, simply because there is a correct answer at the end. Ironically, he places too much faith in a story his rabbi tells at a funeral. For someone who lives his life by weighing the evidence and making a reasoned decision, Larry loses faith in himself without good reason. The Coen brothers have explored ineffectual men in other films. In an interview, they referred to Jerry Lundegaard from Fargo as a “numbnuts.” The writer-directors are Larry’s true Hashem, and they assail him with one obstacle after another, which he takes very badly.

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