Barbra Streisand's ultimate vanity piece was definitely 1983'sYentl, a drama with music for which Streisand served as executive producer, director, co-screenwriter, and star and began Streisand's penchant for presenting stories and characters with extremely strong feminist leanings, that may have strained the credibility of some of her on screen storytelling, but at this time, Streisand was the only woman in Hollywood with the juice to get a studio to back her personal vision and let her have the creative control she tried to have with A Star is Born but lost to then boyfriend Jon Peters.
Based on a short story called "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this is the story of a Jewish girl in Poland named Yentl who is secretly being educated regarding the Talmud by her father, a sort of Jewish version of the bar exam, which, by law during this time, was only to be taught to men. When Yentl's father suddenly dies, she wants to continue her study of the Talmud and decides the only way she can do so is to leave her village, disguise herself as a man and actually gets admitted to a Yeshiva, using her late brother's name, Anshel, to study the Talmud and the Torah and becomes immediately attracted to another student there, a brilliant and sexy scholar named Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) whose competitive chemistry with Anshel is swift and immediate, but there is something else that pulls him to Anshel that he can't explain and provides awkwardness between the two.
Their relationship is further complicated when Avigdor asks Anshel to look after his fiancée, Hadass (Amy Irving) when her family rejects him as a future husband because they learn his brother committed suicide and Hadass finds herself immediately attracted to Anshel. This convoluted love triangle and the sexist politics of turn of the century Poland are what make up the crux of this story.
Streisand has, of course, brought her own contemporary feminism to this Fiddler on the Roof-type story where long dormant rules and beliefs are challenged and threatened. And since Streisand is the star, she decided to internalize Yentl's dreams and frustrations through the use of the musical score and having Yentl be the only character who sings in the film. Whether this works to the film's credit or detriment is most likely the individual viewer's opinion, but I do think it is odd that Streisand would hire a gifted singer like Mandy Patinkin, who has recorded several albums and won a Tony Award three years prior to this for EVITA, as her leading man and not allow him to sing a note.
Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman have provided some lovely songs for Streisand here, including "The Way He Makes Me Feel", "Papa Can you Hear Me", and another finale that bares way too much of a resemblance to "Don't Rain On My Parade" in Funny Girl called "A Piece of Sky" which finds our heroine, once again, belting out the tune on the deck of a boat.
Streisand the producer and director work very hard to make their star look good here and personally, the film's appeal is dependent on your feelings about the star. Streisand clearly poured a lot of money into the film and it all shows on screen. She won the Golden Globe for Outstanding Direction of a Comedy or Musical but was ignored at Oscar time, though I still scratch my head over the fact that Amy Irving did receive an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her work as Hadass, a nice performance in a thankless role, but hardly Oscar-worthy. Streisand fans will eat it up, others...be afraid, be very afraid.
Based on a short story called "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this is the story of a Jewish girl in Poland named Yentl who is secretly being educated regarding the Talmud by her father, a sort of Jewish version of the bar exam, which, by law during this time, was only to be taught to men. When Yentl's father suddenly dies, she wants to continue her study of the Talmud and decides the only way she can do so is to leave her village, disguise herself as a man and actually gets admitted to a Yeshiva, using her late brother's name, Anshel, to study the Talmud and the Torah and becomes immediately attracted to another student there, a brilliant and sexy scholar named Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) whose competitive chemistry with Anshel is swift and immediate, but there is something else that pulls him to Anshel that he can't explain and provides awkwardness between the two.
Their relationship is further complicated when Avigdor asks Anshel to look after his fiancée, Hadass (Amy Irving) when her family rejects him as a future husband because they learn his brother committed suicide and Hadass finds herself immediately attracted to Anshel. This convoluted love triangle and the sexist politics of turn of the century Poland are what make up the crux of this story.
Streisand has, of course, brought her own contemporary feminism to this Fiddler on the Roof-type story where long dormant rules and beliefs are challenged and threatened. And since Streisand is the star, she decided to internalize Yentl's dreams and frustrations through the use of the musical score and having Yentl be the only character who sings in the film. Whether this works to the film's credit or detriment is most likely the individual viewer's opinion, but I do think it is odd that Streisand would hire a gifted singer like Mandy Patinkin, who has recorded several albums and won a Tony Award three years prior to this for EVITA, as her leading man and not allow him to sing a note.
Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman have provided some lovely songs for Streisand here, including "The Way He Makes Me Feel", "Papa Can you Hear Me", and another finale that bares way too much of a resemblance to "Don't Rain On My Parade" in Funny Girl called "A Piece of Sky" which finds our heroine, once again, belting out the tune on the deck of a boat.
Streisand the producer and director work very hard to make their star look good here and personally, the film's appeal is dependent on your feelings about the star. Streisand clearly poured a lot of money into the film and it all shows on screen. She won the Golden Globe for Outstanding Direction of a Comedy or Musical but was ignored at Oscar time, though I still scratch my head over the fact that Amy Irving did receive an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her work as Hadass, a nice performance in a thankless role, but hardly Oscar-worthy. Streisand fans will eat it up, others...be afraid, be very afraid.