Gopnik, Larry (A Serious Man). A quiet, unassuming Jewish physics professor, and the main protagonist of the 2009 Coen Brothers’ film, A Serious Man. The film centers on Gopnik’s “existential meltdown” that ensues as he tries to find his purpose among the brewing chaos of his sullen wife and her condescending lover, his ungrateful children, his dead-beat brother, an unscrupulous student, neighbors encroaching on his property, and a broken TV aerial.

Gopnik is first encountered as he undergoes what appears to be a routine medical exam. Shortly after this exam, he stumbles upon his first moral dilemma involving a Korean student named Clive. He feels that Gopnik has given him an unjust grade even though he readily admits he does not understand the mathematics behind the subject. Clive then leaves a bribe in Larry’s office. Angered by this insult to his character, Gopnik confronts Clive about the bribe in a feeble attempt to assert his authority. Clive’s father further complicates the situation by putting Gopnik in a catch-22 – he threatens to expose Gopnik if he takes the bribe, and he also threatens to sue him from defamation of character if Gopnik exposes Clive. Since the department head previously discussed a series of defamatory letters written about him, Gopnik assumes Clive is the source of these letters.

To add to his woes, his wife, Judith, unexpectedly announces that she wants a divorce and a get (a document Larry must write to release her from their marriage in accordance with Jewish law) in order to marry an old family friend, Sy Ableman. Gopnik is left in a state of stupor as he contemplates the sudden yet noticeable disintegration of his marriage. Judith and Sy exploit Larry’s humble nature by convincing him and his brother Arthur to move into a hotel while she secretly drains their bank account. After Sy’s unexpected death in a car accident, Larry is forced to take on the funeral expenses. Later during his son, bar mitzvah, Judith reveals to Larry that Sy had a tremendous amount of respect for him, and even wrote letters to the tenure committee on Gopnik’s behalf.

Gopnik also discovers that his brother’s pet project “The Mentaculus” consists of nothing more than random doodles and numbers. Larry is further saddled misfortune as his brother comes under legal scrutiny for gambling, solicitation, and sodomy.

Throughout the collapse of Larry’s suburban utopia, he also decides to face two insignificant, yet highly personal missions – fixing the broken TV aerial so his son, Danny, can watch F-Troop, and confronting the aggressive next door neighbor that is slowly invading his property to build a boat shed – in an attempt to reclaim his battered self-esteem.

In order to make sense of the predicaments Larry faces, he seeks audiences with three rabbis. The first, a young junior rabbi, attempts to console Larry with all the wonders that God has produced around him. However, these wonders are limited to a large parking lot located just outside the rabbi’s office.

Frustrated, Larry then meets with a second rabbi, who regales him with a tale of a dentist finding a message written in Hebrew carved into the back of his patient’s teeth. The conclusion of this story torments Larry even more since there is no resolution or larger purpose to the dental carvings.

Gopnik, in a last ditch attempt to soothe his longing for higher meaning, tries to speak with the highly revered Rabbi Marshak. His efforts prove fruitless since the respected elder no longer does pastoral work, and Larry is finally turned away by the Rabbi’s secretary.

At this point Larry has been beaten down, marginalized, and demeaned to point where he disregards his conscience and takes Clive’s bribe to cover his brother’s legal fees. As Larry changes the grade, he receives a phone call from the doctor regarding his exam from the beginning of the film. It is implied that the results are not good, and possibly Larry’s painful trek through life may soon come to an end.

Throughout the movie, Gopnik is portrayed as a meek underdog attempting to fight his battles on a higher moral ground that is slowly crumbling beneath him. He longs to be seen as a “serious man” like his adversary, Sy. However, his timid nature allows the people who should care the most walk all over him. We see glimpses of the man Gopnik wants to be when he dreams of explaining in full detail the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to his students, helping his brother escape to Canada , and having an affair with his neighbor Mrs. Samsky. However, all these dreams end with Larry confronting the very people he’s intimidated by – Sy and his neighbor – and losing terribly.

Gopnik is portrayed by Michael Stuhlbarg, a noted theater actor trained at  Juilliard School . He won the Chapin Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was also nominated for Best Actor at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Award for his character in this film.—Ella Carpenter