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Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain follows two Jewish American cousins on a trip through Poland to honor their late grandmother. Eisenberg wrote, directed and stars in the 2024 comedy-drama, playing David opposite Kieran Culkin as Benji. The film’s journey draws on Eisenberg’s family history and his unease about how Holocaust stories are portrayed on screen.
What is A Real Pain about?
David and Benji are mismatched cousins traveling in Poland to connect with their family history and pay tribute to their grandmother. The present-day trip brings their different temperaments into focus against the weight of the past. Searchlight’s official press page lists the film’s U.S. theatrical opening as November 1, 2024.
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The premise is personal without being a straightforward retelling of one family’s wartime history. Eisenberg has described the film as a story shaped by his own relatives’ connection to Poland and by the difficulty of approaching the Holocaust in fiction.
What inspired Eisenberg to make it?
A family connection to Poland
Eisenberg told TIME that a visit to the Polish home of his great-aunt, alongside the history of relatives affected by the Holocaust, helped inform the screenplay. That family connection gave the cousins’ trip a specific emotional and historical context.
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- Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd couple?s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
Concern about portraying the Holocaust
Eisenberg told TIME on November 1, 2024: “I just have a very kind of, let’s say—what’s the word—touchy reaction to the way the Holocaust is presented in films.” He said making a film about the subject worried him, and that he tried to approach it realistically. Rather than treating the trip as a simple lesson or an easy resolution, the film places the cousins’ personal reactions beside the history they are confronting.
The ad that helped crystallize the story
In a CBS News interview, Eisenberg recounted that he was struggling with an earlier version of the script when he encountered an online advertisement for an Auschwitz tour. He said the ad helped crystallize the direction of the film. This is Eisenberg’s account of a creative turning point, as reported by CBS News.
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Was A Real Pain nominated for a Golden Globe?
Yes. The film received four nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Eisenberg; Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Culkin; and Screenplay for Eisenberg. Culkin won the supporting-actor award. These are the nominations and win listed in the Golden Globes’ official record.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where can you watch A Real Pain?
Official Hulu and Disney+ listings have included the film in the territories covered by those services, but that does not establish availability in every country or guarantee that it remains in a local catalog. Check the current listings for your country before subscribing or renting. A Japanese studio page lists digital purchase from April 1, 2025, and rental from April 30, 2025; those dates apply to that market, not necessarily to other regions.
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