A Serious Man (9 page)
Authors: Joel Coen
At a row of shelves, back in the dental office, Sussman pulls down
boxes containing other molds
.
Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, goy and Jew alike, seeking other messages. He finds none. He looks in his own mouth …
Sussman in pyjamas, in front of a medicine-cabinet mirror, holds in
his own mouth a dental mirror and strains to see the reflection of the
reflection.
… Nothing. His wife’s mouth …
Sussman’s wife lies asleep on her back, her mouth open, snoring softly.
Sussman, in pyjamas but with his glasses on and loupe in place, lies
over her in bed, supporting himself with one arm thrown across her
body. He leans awkwardly in, taking care not to disturb his wife as he
lowers a dental mirror into her open mouth.
… Nothing. It is a singular event. A mystery.
The Jefferson Airplane guitar solo is heating up
.
But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world’s greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Cabalah. He knows every Hebrew letter has its numeric equivalent.
Sussman, still in his pyjamas, is sitting at the kitchen table scribbling
on a tablet of lined paper
.
Close on the paper: the Hebrew letters have been transcribed into their
numeric equivalents:
374-4548
Nachtner continues in voice-over:
Seven digits – a phone number maybe?
Sussman reaches for the phone. He hesitates, then dials.
… Sussman dials. It rings.
An elevated cubicle in a grocery store. A man in a white short-sleeved
shirt reaches for the phone
.
RABBI NACHTNER
It’s a Red Owl grocery store in Bloomington. Hello? Do you know a goy named Kraus? Russell Kraus?
The store manager shakes his head
.
Where have I called? The Red Owl. In Bloomington. Thanks so much.
The manager, puzzled, hangs up
.
Sussman thinks, “Am I supposed to go to the Red Owl, to receive a further sign?” He goes …
In the parking lot of the Red Owl, Sussman, wearing a short-brimmed
fedora, emerges from his car. It is an unremarkable grocery store in a
suburban mall
.
It’s a Red Owl.
Inside, Sussman, in his fedora, gazes around
.
Groceries. What have you.
A service alley behind the store: dumpsters, wind-blown garbage,
Sussman looking
.
On the wall behind the store, a stain …
There is an old, rather nondescript stain of some liquid splatted against
the back wall and long since dried.
… Could be a
nun sofit
… Or maybe not …
The parking lot again: Sussman gets back in his car
.
Sussman goes home. What does it mean? He has to find out, if he’s ever to sleep again.
Sussman, again in pyjamas buttoned to the neck, lies in bed staring at
the ceiling
.
He goes to see the rabbi, Nachtner. He comes in and sits right where you’re sitting now.
Sussman is indeed sitting across from Rabbi Nachtner, just where
we’ve seen Larry sitting
.
What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from
Hashem
? “Help me.” I, Sussman, should be doing something to help this goy? Doing what? The teeth don’t say. I should know without asking? Or maybe I’m supposed to help people generally – lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in Cabalah? In Torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me, Rabbi – what can such a sign mean?
Nachtner – not the narrating Nachtner but the Nachtner in the scene –
nods and considers
.
The rabbi’s office in present: Larry stares at the rabbi. He waits a good
beat
.
He prompts:
LARRY
So what did you tell him?
The rabbi seems surprised by the question
.
RABBI NACHTNER
Sussman?
LARRY
Yes!
RABBI NACHTNER
Is it … relevant?
LARRY
Well – isn’t that why you’re telling me?
RABBI NACHTNER
Mm. Okay. Nachtner says, look …
The consultation scene again, with the rabbi once again narrating in
voice-over. He silently advises the fretful Sussman in sync with his
recounting of the same
.
… The teeth, we don’t know. A sign from
Hashem
, don’t know. Helping others, couldn’t hurt.
Back to the rabbi’s office in present. Larry struggles to make sense of
the story
.
LARRY
But – was it for him, for Sussman? Or –
RABBI NACHTNER
We can’t know everything.
LARRY
It sounds like you don’t know anything! Why even tell me the story?
RABBI NACHTNER
(
amused
)
First I should tell you, then I shouldn’t.
Larry, exasperated, changes tack:
LARRY
What happened to Sussman?
Sussman, back in his office, works on different patients as the rabbi
resumes the narrative in voice-over
.
RABBI NACHTNER
What
would
happen? Not much. He went back to work. For a while he checked every patient’s teeth for new messages; didn’t see any; in time, he found he’d stopped checking. He returned to life.
Sussman, at home, chats with his wife over dinner
.
… These questions that are bothering you, Larry – maybe they’re like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then they go away.
Sussman lies in bed sleeping, smiling, an arm thrown across his wife
.
Back in the rabbi’s office, Larry is dissatisfied
.
LARRY
I don’t want it to just go away! I want an answer!
RABBI NACHTNER
The answer! Sure! We all want the answer! But
Hashem
doesn’t owe us the answer, Larry.
Hashem
doesn’t owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.
LARRY
Why does he make us feel the questions if he’s not going to give us any answers?
Rabbi Nachtner smiles at Larry
.
RABBI NACHTNER
He hasn’t told me.
Larry rubs his face, frustrated
.
A last question occurs to him:
LARRY
And what happened to the goy?
Rabbi Nachtner’s forbearing smile fades into puzzlement
.
RABBI NACHTNER
The goy? Who cares?
The modern synagogue grafted onto a patch of prairie
.
An echoing voice rings out:
VOICE
Sy Ableman was a serious man!
In close-up he gazes around, weighing the effect of the words just
delivered
.
After a beat during which he seeks to establish eye contact with as
much of his audience as possible:
RABBI NACHTNER
Sy Ableman was a man devoted to his community …
Wider shows Rabbi Nachtner and the congregation facing each other
across a casket that rests below the bema
.
… to Torah study …
Larry sits among the congregants, his gaze fixed on a point off.
… to his beloved wife Esther until, three years ago, she passed …
Larry’s point-
of-
view: Judith is visible from three-quarters behind. She
sits a few rows forward looking weepily up at the rabbi.
… and to his duty, as he saw it. Where does such a man go? A
tzadik
– who knows, maybe even a
lamid vovnik
– a man beloved by all, a man who despised the frivolous? Could such a
serious
man … simply … disappear?
The words echo
.
Again the rabbi gazes around, as if awaiting answer
.
Then:
… We speak of
olam ha-ba
, the World to Come. Not heaven. Not what the gentiles think of as afterlife. “
Olam
ha-ba
.” What is
olam ha-ba
?
Where
is
olam ha-ba
? Well: it is not a
geographic
place, certainly. Like – Canada.
Murmured chuckles from the congregation
.
Nor is it the
eretz zavat chalav ood’vash
– the land flowing with milk and honey, for we are not promised a
personal
reward, a gold star, a first-class VIP lounge where we get milk and cookies to eternity!
More chuckles
.
Olam ha-ba
… is in the bosom of Abraham.
Olam ha-ba
is in the soul of this community which nurtured Sy Ableman and to which Sy Ableman now returns. That’s right, he returns. Because he still inspires us,
Sy Ableman returns
. Because his memory instructs us,
Sy Ableman returns
. Because his thoughts illuminate our days and ways,
Sy
Ableman returns
. The frivolous man may vanish without a ripple but Sy Ableman? Sy Ableman
was a serious man
…
A sob echoes through the sanctuary
.
Larry looks at Judith, who stifles further sobs with a handkerchief.
… As you know, the mourner’s kaddish does not mention the dead. It praises
Hashem
; it praises what abides. And Sy Ableman, whose spirit will continue to assist us in
tikkun
olam
, is with us even now, a serious man who would say as we now say,
Yiskadal v’yiskadash sh’may rabah …
The congregation rises and chants along until it and Judith’s weeping
are cut off by:
The front door of the Gopnik home
.
Larry, still in his suit and yarmulka from shul, opens the door. He
recoils in surprise edged with fear
.
Reverse: two uniformed policemen
.
COP 1
Arthur Gopnik?
Larry is momentarily dumb. Behind him, in the living room, we see a
corner of a card table upon which food has been laid out. Sarah sits
with her back to us, head wrapped in a towel-turban. Arthur, on the
far side of the table, his balding head yarmulka-topped, half-leans out
so that he may sneak looks toward the men at the door while still
somewhat hidden. From somewhere down the hall come Judith’s
muffled sobs.
… Are you Arthur Gopnik?
LARRY
I’m … Laurence Gopnik.
COP 1
Do you go by the name Arthur Gopnik?
LARRY
No.
COP 1
Is that Arthur Gopnik?
Arthur ducks away
.
From inside the living room:
DANNY
(
off
)
Dad? What’s going on?
LARRY
Can you tell me what’s going on? We’re sitting
shiva
here.
COP 1
You’re
what
?
LARRY
A religious observance. We’re … bereaved.
The heretofore wordless second cop gazes in over his partner’s shoulder
.
COP 2
Who died?
LARRY
My wife’s, um … it’s a long story.
COP 1
Look. Tell Gopnik – Arthur Gopnik – he’s breaking the law. We’re not arresting him now but next time we will. Gambling is against the law in this state. That’s just the way it is. All right. Go back to your …
COP 2
Sorry, sir.
A minute later. The family – except for Judith, whose weeping
continues off – sits around the card table. A long beat
.
At length:
DANNY
Dad, we get Channel 4 now but not Channel 7.
LARRY
Arthur, how could you do that to this family? On Sy’s … on Sy’s –
ARTHUR
It’s a victimless crime.
LARRY
That doesn’t make it right! And you –
DANNY
He won a lot of money, Dad! The Mentaculus really works!
Larry’s gaze swings to his son
.