A film with music.

Nothing's Impossible


Barbra Streisand's directorial debut, Yentl, is a musical adaptation of a story by the beloved Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. Yentl (Streisand) is a young woman who wants nothing more than to study religious scripture. She is denied that possibility because she is a woman. She moves, passes herself off as a male named Anshel, and then begins her studies. She becomes close to fellow student Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), eventually falling in love with him, although she can not reveal her true self as she would then be expelled. Avigdor is in love with Hadass (Amy Irving), but religious law forbids him from marrying her. Avigdor attempts to fix Anshel up with Hadass, leading to Hadass falling in love with Anshel. Yentl received four Academy Award nominations, including two Best Song nods.


Yentl is a 1983 romantic musical drama film from MGM, and directed, co-written, co-produced, and starring Barbra Streisand based on the play of the same name by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis Singer, itself based on Singer's short story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy".
The dramatic story incorporates humor and music to relate the odyssey of an Ashkenazi Jewish girl in Poland who decides to dress and live like a man so that she can receive an education in Talmudic Law after her father dies. The film's musical score and songs, composed by Michel Legrand, include the songs "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "The Way He Makes Me Feel", both sung by Streisand. The film received the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture-comedy and Best Director for Streisand making her the first woman to have won Best Director at the Golden Globes.


Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer of “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy,” the short story which was first published in English in 1983, said of Barbra Streisand’s film adaptation of the story, “I did not find artistic merit neither in the adaptation, nor in the directing.”[43] In their 1985 “Film Quarterly” review, Allison Fernley and Paula Maloof laud Streisand for departing from genre expectations, namely upholding Yentl as a strong female and therefore potential feminist role model rather than an accomplice in a male-dominated romance, for defying the expectations of the genre of musical by choosing to give all musical parts to Yentl alone, and the “subversion of the cross-dressing genre” by refusing to end the film with a “comfortable reassuring heterosexual union” between Yentl and Avigdor, demanding the audience consider more serious questions about the role of societal conventions.[44] In 1983 Jack Kroll of Newsweek called Streisand’s control over the aesthetics of the film “a delight and at times an astonishment.”[45] Gary Arnold of the Washington Post observed an “uninspired score and other shortcomings” of the film, but saw its “exceptional charm and sentimental potency” as its saving grace.[46] While she granted Streisand a sincere effort in creating Yentl, Janet Maslin’s “New York Times” 1983 review criticized Streisand’s carelessness with certain aesthetic elements of the film as well as the ending, which she described as a “relatively harsh resolution,” comparable to that of the original by I.B. Singer, for the film not meeting standards. Streisand responded publicly to Maslin, saying "I spent more than ten years researching the material; how long did she spend on it?"


Yentl was released on home video in August 1984 on CBS/FOX Home Video (under license from MGM/UA). It was released on DVD by MGM (under 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) on February 3, 2009 as a two-disc "Director's Extended Cut" in the widescreen format. A Blu-ray edition has yet to be announced. The DVD includes the theatrical cut, a director's extended cut with added scenes from Streisand's archives, an introduction by Streisand, an audio commentary with Streisand and Rusty Lemorande, deleted scenes including a storyboard sequence for a cut song, pre-rehearsal concepts and feature comparisons, stills galleries, and cast and crew info.

Yentl won an Academy Award in 1984 for Best Adaptation Score, the award going to Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics), and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics). Amy Irving was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and the film was also nominated for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (Roy Walker, Leslie Tomkins, Tessa Davies).[49]
Barbra Streisand became the first woman to receive a Golden Globe for Best Director for the film, and Yentl was nominated for four other Golden Globes also winning the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) Golden Globe.
Irving was also nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress, making her one of two actors to be nominated for an Oscar and a Razzie for the same performance (the other is James Coco for Only When I Laugh).[citation needed] The film also earned Razzie nominations for Barbra Streisand as Worst Actor (because Yentl appeared as a man throughout the film) and for Worst Musical Score


Release Date: November 18, 1983


Distrib: MGM/UA

Boxoffice: $40,218,899 2013: $97,685,600