Coen Bros: A Serious Man part 11
So, things are pretty bad now for Larry. His wife is divorcing him, she’s cut off his money, she’s thrown him out of his house. His kids barely notice he’s gone, he’s got to pay for his wife’s lover’s funeral and his brother’s criminal trial. But, as bad-off as Larry is, his brother, who is like Larry’s dark reflection, is worse. He’s still got his cyst, and, as he explains in a tearful (empty) poolside confession, Larry is a lucky, wealthy man compared to him: he’s got a wife, a family, a job. Arthur has nothing, and now he’s going to go to jail for solicitation and sodomy. Larry never "did anything," and now he’s in danger of losing everything. Arthur, on the other hand, apparently "did" a great deal, none of which Larry knew anything about, and never had anything, and on top of it faces imprisonment. Larry counsels Arthur with a bromide no wiser, nor more foolish, than the advice he’s been given by the rabbis. "Sometimes you have to help yourself," he says, but, of course, that’s exactly what Larry has not done — he’s let everyone walk all over him.