A Serious Man - Blu-Ray

Film: If the Coen brothers Joel and Ethan have proven one thing in recent years, it's that you should always expect the unexpected from them. After the star-studded comedy "Burn after Reading", they follow it up with "A Serious Man", a work that couldn't be more different - yet is somehow typically Coen.

The film tells the story, set in the late 1960s, of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), who lives a quiet life in a small Jewish community in the Midwestern United States. Neither his work as a professor at the university, nor his family life are particularly spectacular. But everything runs in an orderly fashion. This changes, however, when his wife files for divorce without warning, a student makes his life difficult, his unstable brother burdens him with his problems, and his children also cause trouble more and more often. Larry hopes to get help for this difficult phase of his life from a rabbi. But instead of a solution, Larry now gets even more problems...

From a completely weird episode with which the Coens open the film, but which ultimately has nothing really to do with Larry's story, to the abrupt and inherently open ending, "A Serious Man" eludes the expectations of its viewers at almost every moment. The film is quirky, whimsical, quietly complex, and extremely intelligent. Yet it is too American to appeal to a wider audience outside the US. The Coens derive the humor here from the allusions to life in typical Jewish communities in the US in the 1960s. The many cultural and religious allusions, which are processed here in the story, can really only open to those viewers who are familiar with it. And that might not be many in this country.

This makes "A Serious Man" certainly not a bad film, but simply one that will only appeal to a small audience. Even die-hard Coen fans might have a bit of a hard time with this one. But those who get involved in the very peculiar narrative and perhaps a little familiar with the background will realize that also "A Serious Man" has again become a stroke of genius of the brothers.

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of the Blu-Ray can be called very good with a clear conscience. The tonal events remain decent over the longest distances and is dominated by atmospherically mixed ambient sounds, the dialogues and the film music. Nevertheless, the very good sound quality can prove itself time and again even with these rather simple means. The picture also leaves a very good impression. It's clean, very sharp even in the details and features good contrasts. So overall more than satisfactory.

Extras: The disc has just under 90 minutes of bonus material to offer. In addition to a German-language promotional making of (approx. 11 min.) and a whimsical interview with the lead actor (approx. 16 min.), there are also five featurettes on the program, although the last two are less short documentaries than longer promotional trailers. The other three featurettes offer the viewer a short crash course in Hebrew for non-Jews (approx. 2 min.), show how the team behind the scenes authentically recreated the year 1967 (approx. 13 min.) or offer a look at the filming (approx. 17 min.).), while also going into more detail about the introductory story, which, as the Coen brothers themselves reveal, has little to nothing to do with the actual story.

Besides these interesting extras, the disc also has two trailers and two TV spots, as well as a 10-minute B-roll, an uncommented look at the filming. Rounding things out is a trailer show from the provider with five movie tips.

Conclusion: "A Serious Man" is an unusual, kind of quirky, smartly funny film that impressively demonstrates the versatility and unpredictability of the Coen brothers. Technically, the Blu-Ray is on a high level, the bonus material can also convince. For fans of the cult brothers absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp