A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 6 wins & 17 nominations total
- Peshe
- (as Lynda Barron)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBarbra Streisand hand-picked Mandy Patinkin for this movie, and he politely declined several times because he did not like the script. He was eventually invited to Streisand's house where they could discuss the parts he wanted to change. He then agreed to be in the film.
- Quotes
Yentl: Why is it that every book I buy, every bookseller has the same old argument?
Yentl's Father: You know why.
Yentl: I envy them.
Yentl's Father: The booksellers?
Yentl: No, not the booksellers, the students. Talking about life, the mysteries of the universe and I'm learning how to tell a herring from a carp.
Yentl's Father: Yentl, for the thousandth time, men and women..."
Yentl: [cuts him off] have different obligations, I know, but...
Yentl's Father: [cuts her off] and don't ask why.
Yentl's Father: [sees her disappointment] Go on, get the book.
Yentl: Thank you, papa!
Yentl's Father: The shutters, darling.
Yentl: We don't have to hide my studying from God, then why the neighbors?
Yentl's Father: Why? Because I trust God will understand. I'm not so sure about the neighbors.
- Crazy creditsAt the very end of the closing credits: This film is dedicated to my father... and to all our fathers.
- SoundtracksWhere Is It Written?
(uncredited)
Music by Michel Legrand
Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman
Performed by Barbra Streisand
No one can deny that this is yet another vanity project for Babs. Or that the music in Yentl pretty much all sounds the same. Or that Babs has no problem showing overly gratuitous male nudity, but won't even give us a glimpse herself. But Yentl is a very deep character and film, which are always hard to come by. Not just of one character, but of three, which is really hard to come by. Babs herself is servicable as an actress, but it is Amy Irving and Mandy Pitakin who really shine in this film. Both really laid it all on the line. It shows, and they make this film.
As a writer, director and producer, Babs tries to make her mark (as she does in all her films), but who doesn't? She makes her mark with reliable "different" techniques in dialogue and direction, but doesn't try to throw it in our face. She's serviceable as producer, director, and actress. Of course, you're crazy if you try to deny the woman her musical talent. All the songs in Yentl SOUND the same, but they are not written the same. All the songs fit well within the framework, and tell us what Yentl is feeling at the time. Exactly what they were meant to. Perhaps the film shouldn't have ended in a song.
Not that affirmative action has any place in Hollywood, but Babs has really gotten the shaft over the years. With Penny Marshall, she's arguably the most accomplished female director in Hollywood HISTORY and has nothing to show for it. I'm not saying that everything she's ever done is even worthy of attention, but surely this was. I have a feeling that if Yentl had been directed by a man, it would have had a picture and director nomination, especially in a year where The GOD AWFUL Big Chill was so recognized.
Yentl is a film that tells a story of a turn of the century Jewish girl who wants to study like the boys do. It's a somewhat interesting story, but the real meat of the story is what happens as a result of Yentl's decisions and the performances of Pitakin and Amy Irving.
- clydefrogg
- Mar 10, 2003
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $12,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $40,218,899
- Gross worldwide
- $40,219,251
- Runtime2 hours 13 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1