A Serious Man - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of A Serious Man or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to A Serious Man

[bernice]

The title refers to Simone de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity. In her book, Beauvoir describes a serious man as someone "who avoids all questions of freedom and assumes himself not free".

[tammy]

The synagogue used for filming was B'nai Emet in the Coen brothers' home town of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, where they went to synagogue.

[jeffrey]

Red Owl was a real Midwest grocery store chain, with several stores in the Twin Cities area, including Knollwood Plaza in St. Louis Park, about two miles south of the Coen family home. The Red Owl mentioned in the film is identified as being in Bloomington, suburb some ways to the south of St. Louis Park. The significance in Rabbi Nachtner's anecdote is that Sussman's investigation of the teeth mystery takes him on a drive in the middle of the night that would have taken about an hour and a half round trip: far enough to seem just a little obsessed, but not too much. The Red Owl sign used in an exterior scene in the movie was a genuine antique, which unfortunately was accidentally dropped and destroyed after filming.

[manuel]

Comedian Marc Maron tested for the role of Larry Gopnik.

[edgar]

In parsha cycle - which reads through the five-books of the bible over the course of the Jewish year - Danny's Bar Mitzvah parsha, "Behar", is followed by "Bechukotai" (Leviticus 26:3-27:34). While Behar discusses the Jubilee Year - the emancipation of slaves and the return of lands to their ancestral heirs - Bechukotai is chiefly known for the verses of Admonition, which warn of the punishments to be endured by those who disobey God. Among other things, the Admonition promises exile, the loss of family and attack by enemies and faint-heartedness - fates suffered by Larry Gopnik. In most years, the two parshahs are read on the same day. Because 1967 coincided with a "Jewish Leap" year - with an extra month before Passover - reading of Bechukotai would have been delayed to the following week (May 27, 1967). Much like Larry Gopnik's travails, the fearful Admonitions would be delayed but not escaped. Although the Hebrew School and Bar Mitzvah sequences in the film are clearly autobiographically inspired, Joel Coen was born on November 29, 1954 and hence would have had his Bar Mitzvah in December of 1967. The precise date of Danny's Bar Mitzvah thus appears to have been selected for this resonance.

[kenzi]

The first word of English is spoken around eight minutes into the film.

[cassandra]

When Larry opens his grade book to change Clive Park's grade, all of the other names listed are names of the film's crew members.

[tammy]

Fyvush Finkel, the actor in his late 80s who plays "Groshkower" in the Yiddish-language scene of the film, started his acting career at 9 years old playing child roles in the Yiddish theater industry that once thrived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

[amber]

The Coen Brothers stated that the opening scene was nothing more than a little short that they made up to get the audience in the proper mood, and that there is no meaning behind it.

[elmer]

At his Bar Mitzvah, Danny reads a "Parshah" or portion of the Torah scroll known as "Behar" (Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2) which details the events of the Jubilee year, including the release of slaves and return of ancestral lands. Because the reading of Torah portions follow a set yearly cycle, this means that Danny's Bar Mitzvah occurred in early May of 1967.

[jesse]

Patton Oswalt auditioned for the role of Arthur Gopnik.

[morris]

No line gets a bigger laugh when the film plays in Minneapolis than Larry's divorce lawyer telling him "Hire Ron Meshbesher" to represent Arthur. Meshbesher is a real person, the most prominent criminal defense attorney in Minnesota for 40-some years, "The Guy" in the words of other lawyers. Thus, Larry learns that Arthur is more trouble than he'd imagined. This is a slight anachronism, as Meshbesher's reputation was not yet established by 1967. To make the significance of the recommendation more apparent to contemporary and non-Minnesota viewers, the script inflates the amount of Meshbesher's retainer a good bit from what it was in the late 60s. The scene was shot in the Minneapolis office of Meshbesher and Spence, and the address on the retainer envelope at the end of the movie is the actual address of the firm.

[kenneth]

According to Violet Ramis personal memoir "Ghostbuster's Daughter: Life With My Dad, Harold Ramis", her father didn't get much of a thrill from acting than he did writing and directing. However, this was the one film that her father Harold Ramis wanted to play a role.

[charlie]

While flipping through 'the mentaculus' one page has a doodle with the words 'Higgs Boson' written backwards

[kristen]

Michael Stuhlbarg originally auditioned for the role of Shtetl husband in the prologue. He was at a disadvantage with other actors considered for the part due to not being fluent in Yiddish, but through his audition the Coen Brothers became interested in him for Larry.

[darrell]

Most of the doorposts throughout the movie (including the Gopniks' and Mrs. Samsky's) have a small box attached to them. This is a mezuzah, a case containing passages from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21), which Jews traditionally affix to the door frames of their houses as a constant reminder of God's presence. A mezuzah also functions as a sign that a Jewish person occupies the house or works in the building onto which it is affixed, so in this movie, the frequent sight of mezuzahs on doorframes is one of many indications that most of the characters are Jewish.

[stephanie]

The song heard on the record played repeatedly in the Gopniks' house is Dem Milners Trern ("The Miller's Tears") by Sidor Belarsky, a Yiddish folk song of a sad miller's fears of growing old and alone, echoing the film's theme.

[jeffrey]

Tyson Bidner, the film's location manager, was cast as the magbiah at Danny's bar mitzvah because he had been one in real life. He said the Torah scroll was very heavy and difficult to lift above his head.

[richard]

Shot in 44 days.