A Real Pain is a buddy road comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Principal photography took place primarily in Poland from May to June American secular Jewish cousins David and Benji Kaplan embark on a trip from New York City to Poland to visit the childhood home of their late grandmother and to connect with their heritage.
David works in digital ad sales and is a reserved and pragmatic father and husband. He contrasts sharply with Benji, a free-spirited and outspoken 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 arrive at Warsaw 's Chopin Airport and travel by cab to their hotel, where Benji collects from the desk a pack of cannabis he has mailed to himself to avoid security checks at the airports.
The pair are traveling as part of a Holocaust tour through former Nazi German-occupied Poland. The tour group is composed of Mark and Diane, a retired married couple from Texas, Marcia, a recent divorcee from California, and Eloge, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who has converted to Judaism.
It is led by James, an English , Oxford University -educated, mild-mannered, knowledgeable non-Jewish tour guide. At the last site, Benji engages the whole group in assisting him in a reenactment of the Warsaw Uprising around the statue. David is embarrassed and stands apart. The tour progresses by train to Lublin.
Benji is unsettled by the incongruity of the group travelling first class on a Holocaust tour which ultimately results in a missed train stop by the cousins. The tour group had waited for them at the station in Lublin , where they rejoined them.
