10 Movies Designed To Give You An Existential Crisis
6. A Serious Man
The Coen brothers' criminally underappreciated dramedy A Serious Man follows a Jewish physics professor, Larry Gopnik (a brilliant Michael Stuhlbarg), as he attempts to reconcile his faith with the avalanche of bad things coming his way.
Larry's wife wants a divorce, an anonymous party is attempting to derail his work promotion, he's blackmailed by the teacher of a failing student, and he loses all of his money.
The film ultimately considers the folly of attempting to extrapolate meaning from an unforgiving - or rather, apathetic - universe, and how totally incompatible this notion is with most modern religions.
Larry naturally consults a few rabbis for advice with his personal woes, only to be given superficial and non-committal answers which provide him with little comfort or insight.
Ultimately, the film's bleakly ambiguous conclusion only confirms the unpredictable ebb and flow of life which can cause great fortune or immense misery for any one of us at a moment's notice.