Michael Stuhlbarg, the actor that plays Larry Gopnik in the latest film from the Coen Brothers, is on the telephone. There's something wrong with the connection that has my voice echoing back at me in broken bits of half-words. I'm trying to explain to Stuhlbarg how while watching "A Serious Man" it struck me how foreign the world of its characters was. Not only did the film take place a few years prior to my birth, it was predominantly populated by Jews. My understanding of Jewish culture had hitherto been limited to blurry recollections of reading Chaim Potok's novels The Chosen and The Promise when I was a young teenager and Elie Wiesel's play "The Trial of God." And yet, despite my ignorance, I was able to follow the story and its idiosyncrasies without difficulty. Well, except for the opening scene, I'm still not sure what that's all about.

Stuhlbarg admits that there were some who worried about audience understanding the nuances of the film.

"There were a couple of terms I wasn't familiar with but I found that the most esoteric or complicated things were somewhat explained. I feel like the story is something that everyone can relate to in terms of difficult things falling on someone's head and then them doing their best to make the best of it," he says.

I ask what sort of preparation an actor does when he's cast as a character that dramatically resembles the biblical whipping boy Job.

Stuhlbarg says, "Larry was very much a 'math head' and I'm not. So I think it was a combination of asking a lot of questions, learning about physics, learning about Minneapolis at that time."

Stuhlbarg, who looks nothing like his character, explains that another part of the process of getting "into" his character came from the costume.

"I felt like once I got the clothes on and put those glasses on and spent a little time with the hair and makeup people, he just evolved naturally. They are like talisman; those glasses or pants or having your hair styled a particular way just makes you behave differently," he says.

I ask if there are any lessons he learned from Larry's mistakes.

"I want to pay closer attention to those people in my life that I love. Time passes and we get so immersed in our own lives that it is important to poke your head out of your own life to check in with those people," he says.

"A Simple Man" is now available on Blu-ray and DVD, boasting a strong video transfer and a subtle but effective audio mix. The special features are slim, but if you had a difficult time understanding the eccentricities of Jewish culture in the film, the featurettes "Becoming Serious" and "Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys" should help.