IMDb > Yentl (1983)
Yentl
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Yentl (1983) -- A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.

IMDb Holiday Movie Guide

Overview

User Rating:
6.2/10   4,642 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Jack Rosenthal (screenplay) and
Barbra Streisand (screenplay) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Yentl on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
9 December 1983 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
A film with music. more
Plot:
A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 12 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(14 articles)
Mandy Patinkin back to CBS... as guest on Three Rivers
 (From AOL - TVSquad. 14 October 2009, 6:04 PM, PDT)

Ask the Flying Monkey! (June 29, 2009)
 (From AfterElton.com. 28 June 2009, 7:06 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Blazing a New Professional Trail for Women more (54 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Barbra Streisand ... Yentl

Mandy Patinkin ... Avigdor

Amy Irving ... Hadass

Nehemiah Persoff ... Reb Mendel 'Papa'
Steven Hill ... Reb Alter Vishkower

Allan Corduner ... Shimmele
Ruth Goring ... Esther Rachel
David de Keyser ... Rabbi Zalman (as David De Keyser)
Bernard Spear ... Tailor
Doreen Mantle ... Mrs. Shaemen
Lynda Baron ... Peshe (as Lynda Barron)
Jack Lynn ... Bookseller
Anna Tzelniker ... Mrs. Kovner

Miriam Margolyes ... Sarah
Mary Henry ... Mrs. Jacobs
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Additional Details

Runtime:
132 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby | 4-Track Stereo (Dolby Magnetic 35mm prints)
Company:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
After Heaven's Gate (1980) lost nearly all of its $40 million budget, this movie nearly wasn't made because of its starting budget and storyline, which studio heads felt wouldn't sell tickets. more
Goofs:
Continuity: During the scene where Streisand sings "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" toward the beginning of the film, Yentl's glasses are laid down in front of her and the style of glasses shown in this scene have modern temple/ear pieces - inappropriate for the time period. However, during other scenes where Yentl takes off or puts on her glasses, the glasses are the old-fashioned, cable-temple/wrap-around-the-ear-style glasses - appropriate for the time-period. more
Quotes:
Bookseller: You're in the wrong place, storybooks for women are over here.
Yentl: [holding a book] I'd like this one, please.
Bookseller: [takes the book away] Sacred books are for men.
Yentl: Why?
Bookseller: It's the law.
Yentl: Where's it written?
Bookseller: It doesn't matter where it's written, it's the law.
Yentl: Well if it's the law it must be written somewhere, perhaps in here
[the book]
Yentl: . I'll take it.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in A Boy's Life (1997) more
Soundtrack:
The Way He Makes Me Feel more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
11 out of 19 people found the following comment useful.
Blazing a New Professional Trail for Women, 21 August 2007
10/10
Author: BetteDavis08-89 from United States

Barbra Streisand has referred to herself as 'an actress who happens to be a singer'. I doubt I am alone in viewing her professional legacy in the reverse: as a great singer who happens to be an actress . . . director, producer, screenplay writer, musical score composer, humanitarian, and lately, concerned with using her production and direction talents to bring out important social issues (like ageism--"The Living Century" is about centurions--people a hundred years old or more).

"Yentl" marks the beginning of a woman blazing a new trail as a director, singer, composer, her hands in the screenplay, and production. She's spoken in a segment on "The Directors," about how various cultures have treated her as a result of her deliberate transcendence of Hollywood's gender-biased boundaries. One of her most interesting points reveals how well she was treated in England by the British filming crew. Since gender-bias against women is not even comparable to gender bias in the US, because England is so far advanced beyond gender discrimination because one is a woman, Streisand remarks how much easier it was for her to accomplish her goals on the set because the British film crew treated her without gender-bias, and with the respect she is certainly due.

"Yentl" royally upset the AFI in the US because Streisand entered into no woman's land when she had a hand in nearly every aspect of the motion picture. "Yentl" has some of the most memorable, touching, humanely familiar music and lyrics, yet it received no Academy Award. The direction was brilliant--no Academy Award. The screenplay was one that was serious, hilarious, religious, spiritual, and even addressed the issues of gender-bias head on--no Academy Award. Streisand's and Amy Irving's acting was stupendous--no Academy Award.

Streisand paved the way and took the non-recognition by the Film Academy without stopping. This musical motional picture pales many that are classics. The story is an extra interesting one, the likes of which have not been reproduced with anything close to as much skill and class.

I'll give this classic about six Academy Awards, including several that go to Streisand alone.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Yentl (1983)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Richard Gere turned down the Avigdor role vegwriter
Barbra Streisand was WAY to old to play a teenage girl kedem524
Amy Irving Nominated for Best and WORST Supporting Actress??? MontysPython56
Avigdor suddenly in love with Yentl (SPOILERS)? foret-chantal
Not available to rent at Blockbuster. TheDiddy
Streisand not always given writing credits fernandovonsamurai
more

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