VOA标准英语2009年-Cohen Brothers Return With the Dark Comedy

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
12 October 2009

 
Michael Stuhlbarg stars as physics professor Larry Gopnik in writer/directors Joel & Ethan Coen’s "A Serious Man"
Film making brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, Oscar-winners for the 2007 thriller¹ "No Country For Old Men," turn to the time and place of their own youth for their latest quirky story. Set 40 years ago in their hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, it is about a middle-aged² university professor grappling with a seemingly endless stream of moral choices.

"I've had quite a bit of 'tzuris' [troubles] lately: marital³ problems, professional, you name it. This is not a frivolous⁴ request. This is a serious … I'm a serious … uh, I've tried to be a serious man, you know? Tried to do right."

This is Larry Gopnick at the end of his rope. It seems as though the universe is testing this mild-mannered and dedicated⁵ physics professor. At the university he faces students who are too bored to care or are trying to cheat their way to passing grades. At home he struggles to referee⁶ the sibling⁷ rivalry⁸ between his teenaged son and daughter, not noticing that his wife has begun a romance with a family friend:

To cap it off, there are the not-always-legal antics of his unemployed⁹, hypochondriac brother:

Doing what is 'right' is very important to Larry; but he finds it increasingly difficult to determine just what 'right' is.

Acclaimed¹⁰ Broadway stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg stars as this classic tragic¹¹ hero with a fatal flaw. "If there's any fatal flaw with Larry Gopnick it happens at the moment when his morals or his ethics¹² slip from him. I think it's a very human thing, but I think all tragic heroes - if you want to place him in that category - have a fatal flaw; but it is also the gods …or the Coens …who decide their fate," he says.

Like the Gopnick family, writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen grew up in the Minneapolis suburbs. Like Larry, their father was a college professor. They drew on family and friends for the names of the characters and much of "A Serious Man" plays out in places they knew as youngsters. So is it autobiographical? Ethan Coen calls it a very personal film, but insists it is from their imaginations and not personal experiences.

"It was inspired by where we grew up. In terms of setting it is where and when we were kids. It takes place in a Midwestern Jewish community and is set in the late 1960's - in 1967 - and there was a lot of pleasure in that for us, just in re-creating the period; but beyond that, the story itself and what happens to the characters is all fiction," says Ethan Cohen.

Like the melancholy¹³ Yiddish music Larry Gopnick listens to as he tries to forget his woes¹⁴, "A Serious Man" taps into specific details of growing up Jewish in Middle America in the 1960's. The Coens set the scene for this with a Yiddish-language prologue¹⁵: a short fable¹⁶ set many decades earlier in a tiny European village; but, in typical fashion for the brothers, co-writer Joel Coen suggests it may have little to do with the story that follows.

"We started reading a lot of Yiddish fiction around the time we were writing this. We got interested in that and thought it would be fun and interesting and somehow an 'ambassador' for the movie to begin it with our own version of a Yiddish story, without really understanding why or how it would relate …and, frankly¹⁷, we don't really understand now why or how it relates, but it felt right," says Joel Cohen.

What also feels right is something they have captured in their previous films: the unique flavor of a time and place in America.

"There is a Midwestern sensibility about it," says Sari Lennick, who plays Larry's wife Judith Gopnick. :I think it is less that we were on the actual street where they may have played stickball or where they actually may have shot their first movie at Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport. I think it is more a sensibility and there is definitely a feeling about the Midwest. I have lived there now for three years. I am originally from Miami and lived in L.A. and New York; and having now lived for three years in the Midwest I can say it is a different kind of place. So I think in terms of their nostalgia¹⁸, I think we all connected to this area and this very specific world."

"A Serious Man" also features comic actor Richard Kind as "Uncle Arthur" with Adam Arkin as the family lawyer; but many of the supporting players are from the Minneapolis community where the film was shot. The soundtrack includes themes composed by regular Coens' collaborator¹⁹ Carter Burwell blended with rock music of the era, notably²⁰ a Jefferson Airplane hit that has a role the story.

1 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

2 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

3 marital   

adj.婚姻的，夫妻的

参考例句：

• Her son had no marital problems.她的儿子没有婚姻问题。
• I regret getting involved with my daughter's marital problems;all its done is to bring trouble about my ears.我后悔干涉我女儿的婚姻问题, 现在我所做的一切将给我带来无穷的烦恼。

4 frivolous   

adj.轻薄的；轻率的

参考例句：

• This is a frivolous way of attacking the problem.这是一种轻率敷衍的处理问题的方式。
• He spent a lot of his money on frivolous things.他在一些无聊的事上花了好多钱。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

7 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

8 rivalry   

n.竞争，竞赛，对抗

参考例句：

• The quarrel originated in rivalry between the two families.这次争吵是两家不和引起的。
• He had a lot of rivalry with his brothers and sisters.他和兄弟姐妹间经常较劲。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

11 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

12 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

13 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

14 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

15 prologue   

n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕

参考例句：

• A poor wedding is a prologue to misery.不幸的婚姻是痛苦的开始。
• The prologue to the novel is written in the form of a newspaper account.这本小说的序言是以报纸报道的形式写的。

16 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

17 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

18 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

19 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

20 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。