American Jewish cousins David and Benji embark on a trip to Poland to visit the childhood home of their late grandmother, and to connect with their heritage. David, a reserved and pragmatic father and husband, contrasts sharply with Benji, a free-spirited and eccentric drifter. Their personalities clash as Benji criticizes David for losing his former passion and spontaneity, while David struggles with Benji’s unfiltered outbursts and lack of direction in life.
The pair have travelled as part of a Holocaust tour group led by James, a knowledgeable yet detached gentile British tour guide. The cousins' dynamic is tested throughout the trip, from a missed train stop to a confrontation at the Old Jewish Cemetery where Benji critiques the tour's lack of emotional authenticity and challenges its focus on facts and statistics, to David's embarrassment. Benji nonetheless connects with the group members, who find themselves moved by his emotional honesty.
During a group dinner, Benji continues behaving inappropriately and making uncomfortable comments, prompting the tour group to delicately confront him. Benji leaves the table, upon which David opens up to the group about the complex mixture of admiration, resentment, and envy he feels towards his cousin. He additionally reveals that the two have drifted apart following a suicide attempt by Benji earlier that year.
On their last day with the tour, the group visits the Majdanek concentration camp. Before departing from the group, James tells Benji that he is the first person on one of his tours to provide him with feedback, and thanks him for changing his perspective on the way he should lead his tour. David and Benji travel to their grandmother's former home as their final stop, where Benji recounts an incident from years earlier where their grandmother slapped him after he arrived late and intoxicated to dinner with her. He states that the slap gave him a sense of clarity and humility, and laments that she was the only person able to keep him disciplined.
On their final night in Poland, the cousins smoke marijuana on a hotel rooftop together, where Benji confronts David about his changed personality and why he never visits him. While David initially responds that he is busy with his wife and child, he eventually breaks down and explains that following Benji's suicide attempt, he is unable to bear the thought of a person with Benji's passion for life killing themselves.
The pair return to New York, where Benji declines David's offers to visit his home for dinner and to drive Benji to his train home from Penn Station. This prompts David to slap Benji, though they immediately reconcile and profess that they care deeply about each other. David returns to his home and greets his wife and child, while Benji sits at the airport, deep in thought.
The soundtrack for A Real Pain features 16 piano solo recordings written by the Polish composer Frédérick Chopin, and performed by pianist Tzvi Erez.[11][12] The soundtrack features Chopin Nocturnes, Waltzes, Preludes, Etudes and Ballade.
Originally scheduled to be released in the United States on October 18, 2024,[18] the film's release was subsequently pushed by two weeks to November 1.[19]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 181 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Led by a scene-stealing turn from Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain is a powerfully funny, emotionally resonant dramedy that finds writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg playing to his strengths on either side of the camera."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 85 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[21]
Damon Wise of Deadline Hollywood praised Culkin for his performance, calling it "a career high".[22]
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