- Ambiguous Situation:
- When Larry attempts to visit Rabbi Marshak, is he merely "thinking", as his secretary claims? Is he asleep? Or is he listening, with great concentration, to the music of Jefferson Airplane, as implied by his later encounter with Danny?
- The entire opening scene, as detailed further below in the Subtext section.
- The final scene. Whether the tornado counts as God's wrath or just another natural phenomenon is up to the viewer
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: You could count most of the film as one of these: it's a kaleidoscope of angst-ridden Jewish whimsy. It's the accumulative effect of the recurring verbal symbolism (including the first scenein-depth) that gives the film depth. At a shallow glance it just seems like one utterly random scene after another, doubly so for the dream sequences.
- Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: The film has led to countless discussions and essays attempting to interpret its moral philosophy, religious significance and ultimate deeper meaning.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Michael Stuhlbarg listening to the story about the goy's teeth. Four years later he appeared in Blue Jasmine, where he plays a creepy dentist who claims to be able to understand people by their teeth.
- This wouldn't be the last Coen Brothers production Michael Stuhlbarg would be in as an overwhelmed Jewish man.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- Despite the absence of random acts of Ax-Crazy violence, this is still arguably one of the scariest of the Coens' films due to its thematic implications: bad things happening to good people for no reason, and the suggestion of a God who is either both merciless and utterly incomprehensible or who doesn't exist at all.
- The prologue. Though nothing openly frightening happens, it's left a lot of viewers very uneasy.
- One-Scene Wonder: The extras casting in this film is absolutely pitch-perfect, and most of the minor characters only flit in for a scene and then disappear, so there are a lot of these.
- Spiritual Successor: To Barton Fink, another Coen Brothers movie about an ordinary shmoe who suffers a parade of events ranging from unfortunate to terrifying for no discernible reason.
- Subtext: The opening scene in the Shtetl seems to pose the question: is Reb Groshkover a dybbuk, possessing a man three years dead, or simply an eccentric but blameless old man who was seriously injured based on a rumor? From a certain perspective, it doesn't matter: the story clearly shows contrast between Dora, the Shtetl wife, and Larry Gopnik, as action versus inaction, faith versus doubt.
- In the prologue, as soon as Dora hears that her husband has invited Groshkover over, she is certain that he must be a Dybbuk and that God has sent them a curse - or a test - and she does not hesitate to let Groshkover know of her belief, nor to stab him in the chest. Though her husband Velvel, a self-described "rational man", believes that she's murdered a neighbor and that they will be punished, Dora remains stoically certain in her faith: "Blessed is the Lord. Good riddance to evil." Whatever the consequence, she is certain God will protect them.
- By contrast, throughout the film Larry is beset by far worse troubles than a visit from a troublesome neighbor, but remains passive and helpless throughout. Rather than drive out the visitor who brings him trouble (Sy Ableman), he invites him in and immediately gives in to his demands. Where Dora acted immediately without thinking based on her faith that God would protect her, Larry never acts at all, spending his time questioning what God is doing to him.
- An alternate take from movie critic Kai-Ming Chow: the contrast is between Larry and Groshkover. Where Larry is consumed by doubt and questioning, when Groshkover receives a severe consequence - being harshly wounded with an intent to kill - he simply laughs it off: "The old man understands the situation that he's in. There was no real reason for him to be stabbed, but he accepts it and simply leaves. He doesn't question it all. He knows that sometimes bad things just happen, and he has no control over that.
"
- The Woobie:
- Larry.
- Arthur.
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