57-566: A Serious Man is a 2009 black comedy-drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen . Set in 1967, the film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesotan Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, leading him to questions about his faith. A Serious Man received widespread positive critical response, including a place on both the American Film Institute 's and National Board of Review of Motion Pictures 's Top 10 Film Lists of 2009. It
114-603: A $ 3,000 bill from Arthur's lawyer. Larry decides to change Clive's grade from F to C−, whereupon Larry's doctor calls, asking to see him immediately about the results of a chest X-ray. Meanwhile, Danny's teacher struggles to open the emergency shelter as a massive tornado closes in on the school. Considerable attention was paid to the setting; it was important to the Coens to find a neighborhood of original-looking suburban rambler homes as they would have appeared in St. Louis Park, Minnesota , in
171-463: A 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 227 reviews, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, the Coen brothers deliver what might be their most mature—if not their best—film to date." The film also holds a score of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic , based on 38 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert of
228-405: A comic manner. Comedians like Lenny Bruce , who since the late 1950s have been labeled as using " sick comedy " by mainstream journalists, have also been labeled with "black comedy". Sigmund Freud , in his 1927 essay Humour ( Der Humor ), although not mentioning 'black humour' specifically, cites a literal instance of gallows humour before going on to write: "The ego refuses to be distressed by
285-539: A far ridere su un argomento talmente drammatico di cui si ride perché non c'è altra soluzione possibile, si ha quella che nei cabaret di Berlino degli Anni '20 veniva chiamata la "risata verde". È opportuno distinguere una satira ironica, che lavora per sottrazione, da una satira grottesca, che lavora per addizione. Questo secondo tipo di satira genera più spesso la risata verde. Ne erano maestri Kraus e Valentin. Tornado outbreak of April 30 %E2%80%93 May 2, 1967 A destructive severe weather episode affected portions of
342-424: A genre in which dark humor is a core component. Cartoonist Charles Addams was famous for such humor, e.g. depicting a boy decorating his bedroom with stolen warning signs including "NO DIVING – POOL EMPTY", "STOP – BRIDGE OUT" and "SPRING CONDEMNED." Black comedy differs from both blue comedy —which focuses more on crude topics such as nudity , sex , and body fluids —and from straightforward obscenity . Whereas
399-616: A man who grasped things by reason and never by feeling, and who enclosed himself in skepticism; [...] Swift can rightfully be considered the inventor of "savage" or "gallows" humor. Des termes parents du Galgenhumor sont: : comédie noire, plaisanterie macabre, rire jaune. (J'en offre un autre: gibêtises). humour macabre, humeur de désespéré, (action de) rire jaune Galgenhumor propos guilleret etwas freie, gewagte Äußerung Walter Redfern, discussing puns about death, remarks: 'Related terms to gallows humour are: black comedy, sick humour, rire jaune. In all, pain and pleasure are mixed, perhaps
456-439: A seventy-two-hour-long span. By 1:00 p.m. CDT (12:00 p.m. CST; 18:00 UTC) on April 30, a low-pressure area of at most 984 millibars (29.06 inHg ) was centered near Pierre, South Dakota , with a stationary front superimposed from north of Sioux Falls to near LaCrosse, Wisconsin . Nearby, a warm front also attended from south of Sioux Falls to near Des Moines, Iowa , and St. Louis, Missouri . As
513-1304: A spese di chi è più ricco e potente di te. Io sono specialista nella risata verde, quella dei cabaret di Berlino degli anni Venti e Trenta. Nasce dalla disperazione. Esempio: l'Italia è un paese dove la commissione di vigilanza parlamentare Rai si comporta come la commissione stragi e viceversa. Oppure: il mistero di Ustica è irrisolto? Sono contento: il sistema funziona. racconto di satira grottesca [...] L'obiettivo del grottesco è far percepire l'orrore di una vicenda. Non è la satira cui siamo abituati in Italia: la si ritrova nel cabaret degli anni '20 e '30, poi è stata cancellata dal carico di sofferenze della guerra. Aggiungo che io avevo spiegato in apertura di serata che ci sarebbero stati momenti di satira molto diversi. Satira ironica, che fa ridere, e satira grottesca, che può far male. Perché porta alla risata della disperazione, dell'impotenza. La risata verde. Era forte, perché coinvolgeva in un colpo solo tutti i cardini satirici: politica, religione, sesso e morte. Quello che ho fatto è stato accentuare l'interazione tra gli elementi. Non era di buon gusto? Rabelais e Swift, che hanno esplorato questi lati oscuri della nostra personalità, non si sono mai posti il problema del buon gusto. Quando la satira poi riesce
570-463: A total of 21 tornadoes, devastating the towns of Albert Lea and Waseca, Minnesota . Beginning on April 30, 1967, a potent mid-latitude cyclone generated severe weather, including blizzards and severe thunderstorms , across a broad region extending from the northernmost High Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. These conditions occurred within
627-401: Is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo , particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction , for example, the term black comedy can also refer to
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#1732883969086684-492: Is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film. Underlying the grim humor are serious questions about faith, family, mortality and misfortune." Time magazine critic Richard Corliss called it "disquieting" and "haunting". Some critics, including Roger Ebert, commented on the link between the film and the Biblical Book of Job . K. L. Evans wrote, "we identify it as a Job story because its central character
741-620: Is an acknowledged coping mechanism. It has been encouraged within these professions to make note of the context in which these jokes are told, as outsiders may not react the way that those with mutual knowledge do. A 2017 study published in the journal Cognitive Processing concludes that people who appreciate dark humor "may have higher IQs, show lower aggression, and resist negative feelings more effectively than people who turn up their noses at it." Examples of black comedy in film include: Examples of black comedy in television include: Examples of gallows speeches include: Military life
798-523: Is dead and the man he invited must be a dybbuk . Groshkover arrives and laughs off the accusation, but she plunges an ice pick into his chest. Bleeding, he exits their home into the snowy night. In 1967, Larry Gopnik is a professor of physics living in St. Louis Park, Minnesota . His wife, Judith, tells him that she needs a get so she can marry widower Sy Ableman, with whom she has fallen in love. Meanwhile, their son Danny owes twenty dollars to an intimidating Hebrew school classmate for marijuana. He has
855-429: Is full of gallows humor, as those in the services continuously live in the danger of being killed, especially in wartime. For example: Workers in the emergency services are also known for using black comedy: There are several titles such as It Only Hurts When I Laugh and Only When I Laugh , which allude to the punch line of a joke which exists in numerous versions since at least the 19th century. A typical setup
912-430: Is having sex with her, but this turns into a nightmare. Arthur is despondent about the charges levied at him, and Larry consoles him. Larry then has another nightmare in which he gives Arthur the money Clive left him and drives him to cross into Canada by boat, whereupon his neighbors shoot Arthur in the neck. Larry is proud and moved by Danny's bar mitzvah , unaware that his son is under the influence of marijuana. During
969-413: Is in their bleak, black, belittling mode, and it's hell to sit through ... As a piece of movie-making craft, A Serious Man is fascinating; in every other way, it's intolerable." Zemmelman wrote that this kind of viewer response results from the film's lack of narrative resolution: "The film is perplexing and the dialogue reminds the viewer repeatedly that we are in an encounter with the ever-conflictual and
1026-501: Is rounded off with a gloriously well-crafted apocalyptic vision and a chilling intimation of divine retribution for earthly wrongdoing. The Coens have finished the noughties as America's preeminent filmmakers". A Serious Man was later voted the 82nd-greatest film since 2000 in a BBC international critics' poll. A Serious Man received numerous awards and nominations, particularly for its screenplay, acting, and cinematography. Joel and Ethan Coen were awarded Best Original Screenplay at
1083-439: Is that someone badly hurt is asked "Does it hurt?" – "I am fine; it only hurts when I laugh." The term was part of the language before Freud wrote an essay on it—'gallows humor.' This is middle European humor, a response to hopeless situations. It's what a man says faced with a perfectly hopeless situation and he still manages to say something funny. Freud gives examples: A man being led out to be hanged at dawn says, 'Well,
1140-484: Is tormented by his failure to account for the miseries that befall him". In his essay "Job of Suburbia?", David Tollerton wrote, "the more substantial connection between A Serious Man and the Book of Job—the connection that reaches deeper—is their similarly absurd presentations of the human struggle with anguish and the divine." Slate magazine critic Juliet Lapidos considered that the folktale prologue may be an endorsement of
1197-500: Is unharmed, but Sy dies. Larry consults a second rabbi for solace, who recounts a parable about a dentist who finds Hebrew inscriptions on a non-Jewish patient's teeth. Larry also tries to contact Marshak, the synagogue's senior rabbi, who isn't available. At Judith's insistence, Larry pays for Sy's funeral. At the funeral, Sy is eulogized as "a serious man". Larry calls on his neighbor, Vivienne Samsky, whom he has seen sunbathing naked. She introduces him to marijuana. He later dreams that he
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#17328839690861254-544: The Chicago Sun-Times rated the film four out of four stars. His review highlighted the film's Yiddish folktale prologue, suggesting that though the Coens maintain it has no relation to the rest of the film, "maybe because an ancestor invited a dybbuk (wandering soul) to cross his threshold, Larry is cursed." In an essay in Jung Journal: Culture and Psyche , Steve Zemmelman considers that the prologue may link to
1311-534: The 2009 National Board of Review Awards and the 2010 National Society of Film Critics Awards . The screenplay was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 2010 Academy Awards , and received nominations from the Writers Guild of America Awards , the BAFTA Awards , the 15th Annual Critics' Choice Awards , and the 2009 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards . The film was nominated for Best Picture at
1368-786: The 82nd Academy Awards ; the BBC News called it "one of the less talked about nominees". It was also nominated for Best Picture by the Critics' Choice Awards, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the Chicago Film Critics Association . The National Board of Review, the American Film Institute , the Satellite Awards , and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards all listed the film as one of
1425-467: The Jefferson Airplane soundtrack motif, reflecting Larry's normal sense of order becoming increasingly disrupted. He writes, "what can happen when 'the wheel falls off the cart', as Velvel says happened to him on the road that night, or 'when the truth is found to be lies', that lyric from 'Somebody to Love' that serves as bookends for this film." Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote, " A Serious Man
1482-470: The warm sector advanced into northernmost Iowa and southern Minnesota, surface air temperatures rose into the 60s and low 70s ° F , while dew points reached the 60s °F. Winds at the surface ranged from 15 to 25 miles per hour (24 to 40 km/h ) out of the east-southeast. By 7:00 p.m. CDT (6:00 p.m. CST; 00:00 UTC), the warm front migrated to near the Minnesota- Iowa border, while
1539-453: The "gumption" of "taking matters into her own hands". The Wall Street Journal 's Joe Morgenstern disliked what he saw as the film's misanthropy , saying that "their caricatures range from dislikable through despicable, with not a smidgeon of humanity to redeem them." David Denby of The New Yorker enjoyed the film's look and feel, but found fault with the script and characterization: " A Serious Man , like Burn After Reading ,
1596-472: The Coens as cinematographer , following his absence from Burn After Reading . This was his tenth film with them. Costume designer Mary Zophres returned for her ninth collaboration with the directors. The Coens themselves stated that the "germ" of the story was a rabbi from their adolescence: a "mysterious figure" who had a private conversation with each student at the conclusion of their religious education. Ethan Coen said that it seemed appropriate to open
1653-594: The French humour noir ) was coined by the Surrealist theorist André Breton in 1935 while interpreting the writings of Jonathan Swift . Breton's preference was to identify some of Swift's writings as a subgenre of comedy and satire in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism , often relying on topics such as death. Breton coined the term for his 1940 book Anthology of Black Humor ( Anthologie de l'humour noir ), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as
1710-463: The Midwestern and Southern United States from April 30–May 2, 1967. It consisted of two consecutive tornado outbreaks that generated at least 38 tornadoes , causing 13 fatalities and 90 injuries. All of the deaths occurred on April 30, which is known as the 1967 Iowa–Minnesota tornado outbreak , or Black Sunday , to residents of Iowa and southern Minnesota. That day spawned
1767-428: The class. After he leaves, Larry finds an envelope stuffed with cash. When Larry attempts to return it, Clive's father threatens to sue Larry either for defamation if Larry accuses Clive of bribery, or for keeping the money if he does not give him a passing grade. Larry faces an impending vote on his application for tenure , and his department head informs him that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. At
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1824-445: The comedy is used to mock the victim. In the last cases, the victim's suffering is trivialized, which leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as analogously found in the social commentary and social criticism of the writings of (for instance) Sade . Among the first American writers who employed black comedy in their works were Nathanael West and Vladimir Nabokov . The concept of black humor first came to nationwide attention after
1881-499: The day is certainly starting well.' It's generally called Jewish humor in this country. Actually it's humor from the peasants' revolt, the forty years' war, and from the Napoleonic wars. It's small people being pushed this way and that way, enormous armies and plagues and so forth, and still hanging on in the face of hopelessness. Jewish jokes are middle European jokes and the black humorists are gallows humorists, as they try to be funny in
1938-890: The definitive recipe for all punning' (Puns, p. 127). En français on dit « rire jaune », en flamand « groen lachen » Les termes jaune, vert, bleu évoquent en français un certain nombre d'idées qui sont différentes de celles que suscitent les mots holandais correspondants geel, groen, blauw. Nous disons : rire jaune, le Hollandais dit : rire vert ( groen lachen ); ce que le Néerlandais appelle un vert (een groentje), c'est ce qu'en français on désigne du nom de bleu (un jeune soldat inexpéribenté)... On voit que des confrontations de ce genre permettent de concevoir une étude de la psychologie des peuples fondée sur les associations d'idées que révèlent les variations de sens (sémantique), les expressions figurées, les proverbes et les dictions. Q: Critiche feroci, interrogazioni parlamentari: momenti duri per la satira. A: Satira è far ridere
1995-399: The face of situations which they see as just horrible. At least, Swift's text is preserved, and so is a prefatory note by the French writer André Breton, which emphasizes Swift's importance as the originator of black humor, of laughter that arises from cynicism and scepticism. When it comes to black humor, everything designates him as the true initiator. In fact, it is impossible to coordinate
2052-603: The film with a Yiddish folk tale , but as the brothers did not know any suitable ones, they wrote their own. Open auditions for the roles of Danny and Sarah were held on May 4, 2008, at the Sabes Jewish Community Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota , one of the scheduled shooting locations. Open auditions for the role of Sarah were also held in June 2008 in Chicago, Illinois . Patton Oswalt and Marc Maron auditioned for
2109-616: The film's directors, ensemble cast, and casting directors were awarded with the Robert Altman Award . Deakins also received awards at both the 2009 Hollywood Awards and the 2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards , along with the Nikola Tesla Award at the Satellite Awards. Black comedy Black comedy , also known as black humor , bleak comedy , dark comedy , dark humor , gallows humor or morbid humor ,
2166-541: The following songs by popular 1960s artists: The film began a limited release in the United States on October 2, 2009. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2009. A Serious Man grossed $ 9,228,768 domestically, and $ 22,201,566 internationally, making for a worldwide gross of $ 31,430,334. A Serious Man received mostly positive reviews from critics, and holds
2223-540: The fugitive traces of this kind of humor before him, not even in Heraclitus and the Cynics or in the works of Elizabethan dramatic poets. [...] historically justify his being presented as the first black humorist. Contrary to what Voltaire might have said, Swift was in no sense a "perfected Rabelais." He shared to the smallest possible degree Rabelais's taste for innocent, heavy-handed jokes and his constant drunken good humor. [...]
2280-519: The infinitely mysterious." Todd McCarthy said, " A Serious Man is the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar." Ebert quoted McCarthy in his review: "'This is the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar,' writes Todd McCarthy in Variety . I cannot improve on that." Awarding the film five stars in The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw wrote, "this strange and wonderful film
2337-477: The insistence of Judith and Sy, Larry and Arthur move into a nearby motel. Judith empties the couple's bank accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a divorce attorney. Larry learns that Arthur faces charges of illegal gambling, solicitation and sodomy. Larry turns to his Jewish faith for consolation. He consults a junior rabbi , who advises Larry to change his "perspective". Larry and Sy are involved in separate, simultaneous car crashes. Larry
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2394-439: The joke: whether the joke is being told by the threatened person themselves or by someone else. Black comedy has the social effect of strengthening the morale of the oppressed and undermines the morale of the oppressors. According to Wylie Sypher , "to be able to laugh at evil and error means we have surmounted them." Black comedy is a natural human instinct and examples of it can be found in stories from antiquity. Its use
2451-559: The late 1960s. Locations were scouted in nearby Edina , Richfield , Brooklyn Center , and Hopkins before a suitable location was found in Bloomington . The film's look is partly based on the Brad Zellar book Suburban World: The Norling Photographs , a collection of photographs of Bloomington in the 1950s and 60s. Location filming began on September 8, 2008, in Minnesota. An office scene
2508-480: The money, but it is hidden in a transistor radio that was confiscated by his teacher. Their daughter, Sarah, is always washing her hair, going out and avoiding school. Larry's brother, Arthur, is homeless and sleeps on the couch, spending his free time filling a notebook with what he calls the "Mentaculus", a "probability map of the universe". Clive Park, a South Korean student worried about losing his scholarship, meets with Larry in his office to argue he should not fail
2565-450: The originator of black humor and gallows humor (particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), Meditation Upon a Broomstick (1710), and in a few aphorisms ). In his book, Breton also included excerpts from 45 other writers, including both examples in which the wit arises from a victim with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which
2622-691: The particular type of laughter that it arouses ( risata verde or groen lachen ), and said that grotesque satire , as opposed to ironic satire, is the one that most often arouses this kind of laughter. In the Weimar era Kabaretts , this genre was particularly common, and according to Luttazzi, Karl Valentin and Karl Kraus were the major masters of it. Black comedy is common in professions and environments where workers routinely have to deal with dark subject matter. This includes police officers , firefighters , ambulance crews, military personnel, journalists, lawyers, and funeral directors , where it
2679-399: The provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." Some other sociologists elaborated this concept further. At the same time, Paul Lewis warns that this "relieving" aspect of gallows jokes depends on the context of
2736-476: The publication of a 1965 mass-market paperback titled Black Humor , edited by Bruce Jay Friedman . The paperback was one of the first American anthologies devoted to the concept of black humor as a literary genre. With the paperback, Friedman labeled as "black humorists" a variety of authors, such as J. P. Donleavy , Edward Albee , Joseph Heller , Thomas Pynchon , John Barth , Vladimir Nabokov, Bruce Jay Friedman himself, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline . Among
2793-504: The recent writers suggested as black humorists by journalists and literary critics are Roald Dahl , Kurt Vonnegut , Warren Zevon , Christopher Durang , Philip Roth , and Veikko Huovinen . Evelyn Waugh has been called "the first contemporary writer to produce the sustained black comic novel." The motive for applying the label black humorist to the writers cited above is that they have written novels, poems, stories, plays, and songs in which profound or horrific events were portrayed in
2850-441: The roles of Arthur Gopnik and Larry Gopnik. All of the film's original music is by Carter Burwell , who also worked on every previous Coen brothers film except O Brother, Where Art Thou? The film also contains pieces of Yiddish music including "Dem Milner's Trern" by Mark Warshawsky and performed by Sidor Belarsky , which deals with the abuse and recurring evictions of Jews from Shtetlekh . The soundtrack also includes
2907-489: The service, Judith apologizes to Larry for all the recent trouble and informs him that Sy respected him so much that he even wrote letters to the tenure committee. Danny meets with Marshak, a brief encounter in which Marshak only quotes Jefferson Airplane 's " Somebody to Love ", names some members of the band, returns the radio, and tells Danny to "be a good boy". Larry's department head compliments him on Danny's bar mitzvah and hints that he will receive tenure. The mail brings
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#17328839690862964-558: The ten best of 2009. Stuhlbarg was awarded the Chaplin Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Actor at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards . Stuhlbarg, Kind, Melamed and Lennick were nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast . At the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards , Roger Deakins won the award for Best Cinematography , and
3021-454: The term black comedy is a relatively broad term covering humour relating to many serious subjects, gallows humor tends to be used more specifically in relation to death, or situations that are reminiscent of dying. Black humour can occasionally be related to the grotesque genre. Literary critics have associated black comedy and black humour with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes . The term black humour (from
3078-509: The then-closed Shingle Creek Elementary School in north Minneapolis, due to its 1960's-era design. Scenes were also shot at the Minneapolis legal offices of Meshbesher & Spence, the name of whose founder and president, Ronald I. Meshbesher , is mentioned as the criminal lawyer recommended to Larry in the film. Filming wrapped on November 6, 2008, after 44 days, ahead of schedule and within budget. Longtime collaborator Roger Deakins rejoined
3135-488: Was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture , and Stuhlbarg was nominated for a Golden Globe Award . Since its release, it has been widely considered one of the Coen brothers' best films and one of the greatest films of the 21st century. A Jewish man in a 19th-century Eastern European shtetl tells his wife that he was helped on his way home by Reb Groshkover, whom he has invited in for soup. She says Groshkover
3192-499: Was shot at Normandale Community College in Bloomington. The film also used a set built in the school's library, as well as small sections of the second floor science building hallway. The synagogue is the B'nai Emet Synagogue in St. Louis Park. The Coens also shot some scenes in St. Olaf College 's old science building because of its similar period architecture. A classroom scene was shot at
3249-592: Was widespread in middle Europe , from where it was imported to the United States. It is rendered with the German expression Galgenhumor (cynical last words before getting hanged ). The concept of gallows humor is comparable to the French expression rire jaune (lit. yellow laughing ), which also has a Germanic equivalent in the Belgian Dutch expression groen lachen (lit. green laughing ). Italian comedian Daniele Luttazzi discussed gallows humour focusing on
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