http://www.midshorelife.com/content/serious-man-pondersSNIP
A Serious Man seems to be the filmmakers’ postmodern version of the Book of Job. This biblical tale focuses on a good and faithful man named Job who loses everything when God allows Satan to test his faith. After enduring a series of life-shattering catastrophes, Job (who is far from being patient, by the way) angrily wants answers to the age-old question posed by all those who suffer unjustly: “Why me?”
The answer God gives Job from within a massive whirlwind, however, doesn’t really explain the “why” at all. Instead God essentially responds that Job’s limited human mind can never fathom the eternal magnitude of divine reasoning. This insight humbles Job, giving him a consoling wisdom that transcends intellectual understanding. God goes on to restore everything Job had lost, and the story has a relatively happy ending.
The Coen Brothers are not as generous with their film’s protagonist, Larry Gopnik, a decent (yet somewhat oblivious and passive) man. Like Job, Gopnik’s relatively placid life is abruptly turned upside down by a series of arbitrary misfortunes.
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