Pop culture icon and legendary vocalist Barbra Streisand suffered 18 years of rejection from every major movie studio to finance this intriguing film (based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's 1962 short story) of a young Eastern-European Jewess who disguises herself as a yeshiva boy in order to study the Talmud and its commentaries. Then finally, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists agreed to back the project and Streisand was at last able to go ahead with her dream project.
Yentl is the young Jewess living with her father (Nehemiah Persoff) just outside a small village in Eastern Europe in 1905. Her father, a local rabbi, realizes that she is unlike all the other village girls who seem only more than willing to become a woman and fall into the stereotyped trap that's been set for them since birth that a man's home is where they belong, venturing to go no where beyond the duties of a housewife. But Yentl, in true Striesand fashion, is just the opposite. Since her childhood she has required a thirst for knowledge, and her father, seeing this passion, agrees to secretly teach her at night with the curtains drawn and the doors bolted. This aesthetic is applied due to the belief that in those days Jews saw women who wished to study where demons of the evil nature.
Many months later, Yentl's father dies and eight days later in the late afternoon, elder women of the village come to prepare her for life as a housewife and mother. There is a slight accident in moving her father's books and Yentl becomes somewhat defensive while the women quietly leave to give Yentl some time alone saying they'd be back later, one saying she'd keep the girl so busy she'd be unable to think of anything else. After moments of silence and thought, Yentl crosses over to the bureau mirror which has been covered my black mourning cloth. She rips it from the glass and stares into the mirror. She then takes a pair of scissors lying on the bureau, says to her father's spirit, "Forgive me, Papa," and begins to cut her beautiful hair until it's a boyish cut. This affirms her only choice: In order to continue studying, she must go out into the world by herself disguised as a man.
Shortly after sunset that evening, a covered wagon is traveling west from Yentl's village. A young boy dressed in the suit of a yeshiva and carrying a suitcase is walking in the same direction and asks for a ride. The "boy" is Yentl, now assuming the name of her late brother Anshel. The driver requires fare and Anshel gives some willingly but as he tries to get in the back three other passengers refuse him a seat and the wagon drives off into the gathering dusk. Anshel then has no choice but to go halfway across the field to a small thicket to sleep for the night. A few hours later, Yentl lights a candle and in spite of her great fear of being alone in a big world she speaks to her father in the film's most memorable tune, PAPA CAN YOU HEAR ME?
The next day Anshel arrives at an inn for Yeshiva students. There he meets Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) who befriends him and invites him to join him on his trip to Beshiv, a city where one of the best Yeshiva schools in Eastern Europe is. Once there, Anshel and Avigdor become best friends and they share each other's great passion for study. But soon, Avigdor reveals to Anshel his love for a beautiful girl Hadass(Amy Irving-- in her Oscar nominated role), one of very well-to-do family and returns Avigdor's affection. At the same time, Yentl has begun to fall madly in love with Avigdor but naturally, due to the
circumstance she has put herself under, she can never tell him. Meanwhile, Hadass' parents refuse to allow them to marry due to their discovery that Avigdor's elder brother had committed suicide therefore leaving his family with the evil curse of bad luck. Eventually, Avigdor talks Anshel into marrying Hadass. Anshel doesn't agree to this until at the last minute Avigdor prepares to leave Beshiv and live his own life alone. Yentl fears the thought of life without her love and yells after him as he goes, "Nothing's impossible!" Several weeks later, Anshel and Hadass are married and if you want to know how Yentl gets away with the wedding night, you'll have to see the movie. Soon, Yentl is filling Hadass' head with the idea that she too should study Talmud and the commentaries. But as time goes by, Hadass begins to get over Avigdor and learns to love Anshel. Now, Yentl can not keep her deception going on any longer and must make a decision no matter what the cost.
The film is a standing testament to the great progress women have made since 1905 and even today are still realizing more and more emancipational possibilities about themselves. Streisand's singing quality in this film is surpassed only by her legendary renditions in FUNNY GIRL. Mandy Patinkin's portrayal of Avigdor is one of good delivery and a good balance between quiet pensiveness and sheer frustration. But the film's best performance belongs to Amy Irving. She is the perfect image of the innocent, stunningly beautiful virgin who realizes all the great potential she has in herself. There are too many great songs to single just one among them, by the way. This movie is too good to miss!
Yentl is the young Jewess living with her father (Nehemiah Persoff) just outside a small village in Eastern Europe in 1905. Her father, a local rabbi, realizes that she is unlike all the other village girls who seem only more than willing to become a woman and fall into the stereotyped trap that's been set for them since birth that a man's home is where they belong, venturing to go no where beyond the duties of a housewife. But Yentl, in true Striesand fashion, is just the opposite. Since her childhood she has required a thirst for knowledge, and her father, seeing this passion, agrees to secretly teach her at night with the curtains drawn and the doors bolted. This aesthetic is applied due to the belief that in those days Jews saw women who wished to study where demons of the evil nature.
Many months later, Yentl's father dies and eight days later in the late afternoon, elder women of the village come to prepare her for life as a housewife and mother. There is a slight accident in moving her father's books and Yentl becomes somewhat defensive while the women quietly leave to give Yentl some time alone saying they'd be back later, one saying she'd keep the girl so busy she'd be unable to think of anything else. After moments of silence and thought, Yentl crosses over to the bureau mirror which has been covered my black mourning cloth. She rips it from the glass and stares into the mirror. She then takes a pair of scissors lying on the bureau, says to her father's spirit, "Forgive me, Papa," and begins to cut her beautiful hair until it's a boyish cut. This affirms her only choice: In order to continue studying, she must go out into the world by herself disguised as a man.
Shortly after sunset that evening, a covered wagon is traveling west from Yentl's village. A young boy dressed in the suit of a yeshiva and carrying a suitcase is walking in the same direction and asks for a ride. The "boy" is Yentl, now assuming the name of her late brother Anshel. The driver requires fare and Anshel gives some willingly but as he tries to get in the back three other passengers refuse him a seat and the wagon drives off into the gathering dusk. Anshel then has no choice but to go halfway across the field to a small thicket to sleep for the night. A few hours later, Yentl lights a candle and in spite of her great fear of being alone in a big world she speaks to her father in the film's most memorable tune, PAPA CAN YOU HEAR ME?
The next day Anshel arrives at an inn for Yeshiva students. There he meets Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) who befriends him and invites him to join him on his trip to Beshiv, a city where one of the best Yeshiva schools in Eastern Europe is. Once there, Anshel and Avigdor become best friends and they share each other's great passion for study. But soon, Avigdor reveals to Anshel his love for a beautiful girl Hadass(Amy Irving-- in her Oscar nominated role), one of very well-to-do family and returns Avigdor's affection. At the same time, Yentl has begun to fall madly in love with Avigdor but naturally, due to the
circumstance she has put herself under, she can never tell him. Meanwhile, Hadass' parents refuse to allow them to marry due to their discovery that Avigdor's elder brother had committed suicide therefore leaving his family with the evil curse of bad luck. Eventually, Avigdor talks Anshel into marrying Hadass. Anshel doesn't agree to this until at the last minute Avigdor prepares to leave Beshiv and live his own life alone. Yentl fears the thought of life without her love and yells after him as he goes, "Nothing's impossible!" Several weeks later, Anshel and Hadass are married and if you want to know how Yentl gets away with the wedding night, you'll have to see the movie. Soon, Yentl is filling Hadass' head with the idea that she too should study Talmud and the commentaries. But as time goes by, Hadass begins to get over Avigdor and learns to love Anshel. Now, Yentl can not keep her deception going on any longer and must make a decision no matter what the cost.
The film is a standing testament to the great progress women have made since 1905 and even today are still realizing more and more emancipational possibilities about themselves. Streisand's singing quality in this film is surpassed only by her legendary renditions in FUNNY GIRL. Mandy Patinkin's portrayal of Avigdor is one of good delivery and a good balance between quiet pensiveness and sheer frustration. But the film's best performance belongs to Amy Irving. She is the perfect image of the innocent, stunningly beautiful virgin who realizes all the great potential she has in herself. There are too many great songs to single just one among them, by the way. This movie is too good to miss!