Yentl Revisited
Feb. 28th, 2024 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI don‘t think I‘ve seen the movie again since the 1980s, though back then I went to the cinema three times - teenage me loved it to bits, and of course bought the record and played it endlessly. Also, teenage me was very indignant Barbra Streisand didn‘t get a best director nomination in the relevant year. A decade later, when DS9, following its trend of putting the least likely male regular (Quark) in their very own homages of romantic classics (see also: Quark as Casablanca‘s Rick, Quark as Christian to Worf‘s Cyrano de Bergerac), which btw worked for me far better than if they‘d done with, say, Bashir, did its own version of „Yentl“ (starring the first on screen female Ferengi, Pel, as Yentl, and Quark as Avigdor), I recognized the origin and was amused. But though I was a vivid user of video loans in those days, for some reason, I didn‘t seek out Yentl again, nor did I later in the age of the dvd. Last week, though, I saw that it was included in Amazon Prime, and thought, why not? Let‘s see whether it holds up for me!
The first thing that struck me was how one aspect is still norm breaking - it‘s a musical, except it isn‘t, with only one character singing all the songs. (Checking the credits, I see the composer was later responsible for the 90s era most popular Disney cartoons.) Also: no dancing, except in the wedding scene, and there it‘s not the stylized athletic musical type of dancing but goes for realism of how participants of an early 20th century Jewish wedding might have danced. The songs are basically our look into Yentl‘s head, like theatre monologues, and that works amazingly well. (And of course Streisand sings them beautifully.)
The other norm that was shattered in the 1980s and is still very much a standard is that our heroine wants something more than True Love and sticks to that. Teenage 4509651´öpome upon first viewing decided early on this was clearly a rom com and naturally after the usual misunderstandings and near reveals after the grand climax and mutual declarations of love Yentl would end up with Avigdor. So I was stunned when the big emotional climax went into another direction completely. Not stunned in a bad way, I hasten to add. And it‘s still a powerful scene to watch, though both Avigdor‘s initial reaction („you‘re a monster“) and the later „you can‘t still want to study“, which is more devastating in a more subtle way - as Yentl says, how can he ask her that after debating non stop with her through all the time of knowing her? Caming after his own declaration of feeling and the suggestion of living together, it‘s worse than the initial shock and outburst, and really makes it clear why these two not ending up together is the right storytelling decision. Never mind romance, it‘s such a betrayal of their friendship that knowing her, he thinks she can live without studying and debating.
And no movie I had seen up to this point had ever done that with a love interest. It‘s still not done, not with the „real“ love interest anyway, only with The Wrong One (as a signal as to why they are wrong for our hero(ine) and not the endgame person. Morever, it‘s not done with sympathetic characters, which Avigdor despite said betrayal is. (BTW: I don‘t think I saw Mandy Patinkin - at least not consciously - in anything between Yentl and Dead Like Me, where he‘s Rube, everyone‘s favourite gruff mentor. And then in a couple of other similar roles, so returning to him in his youthful beauty was quite the whiplash.) This is far more shades of grey of a romance not working out without one of the partners being secretly the scum of the earth than most fiction allows. And again: That Yentl‘s passion for learning is her main drive throughout the film and remains so, that she does not change her mind in this regard because she falls in love: still hard to think of current day equivalents in successful movies (which this one was).
In some other aspects, you can tell the film is dated. (Though less so than I expected.) Yentl achieves emotional intimacy with Hadass and clearly does mean it when she replies to Hadass‘ „I love you“ with „I love you, too“ in their goodbye scene, but the film does also signal we‘re to understand this is not a sexual and/or romantic love on Yentl‘s part („She‘s mother, she‘s sister“ etc., or „I can never be what she needs“.) That Hadass, who if you‘re expecting to be the romantic rival if like teenage me in the 1980s you think this is a rom com, is a sympathetic character whom Yentl bonds with and changes her initial opinion about completely was then very refreshing, and Amy Irving does bring a lot more than good looks to the role… which still, today, feels underwritten. Of course we‘re in Yentl‘s pov throughout the film, but you still get a far better sense as to who Avigdor is as a person than of what‘s going on with Hadass. That she goes from being in love with Avigdor to being in love with „Anshel“ is believable in that the film shows us „Anshel“ actually talks to Hadass, instead of adoring her from afar, and makes her feel safe, plus we see them making each other laugh and being silly together which contrasts to the tense silent encounters between Hadass and Avigdor (to be fair, they don’t thave the chance to be together out of sight of her parents which is bound to make anyone awkward, but then there‘s also Avigdor‘s „who cares what she thinks?“ to Anshel). But the final sequence shows us Hadass being back in love with Avigdor again (and married to him), and I think/hope a current day take on the story would give us at least Hadass‘ pov on that one, or would let her find out the truth about „Anshel“ as well and not by letter. Not to mention that a lot of the „woman disguised as a man“ gags of the film, whether it’s Yentl after her initial encounter with Avigdor spending one night in the same bed which she‘s panicked about, or Yentl going out of her way to avoid spending a night in the same bed with Hadass later, which I remember caused roaring laughter in the cinema in the 1980s, would be done differently. I‘m not saying this would make the film better (or worse), just different. (For starters, presumably Yentl would wonder about her sexual identity more. And/or we‘d get more than a sentence by Avidgor later later indicating he did feel drawn to „Anshel“ as well while regarding „him“ as a man.)
Barbra Streisand does not look 17 (I think she was in her early 40s at this point), but it‘s never said explicitly how old „Anshel“ is supposed to be, and she does look believably androgynous (not to mention attractive) in her male get up. Sometimes I wish she‘d have trusted her acting more as a director, in that for example during the original invitation scene with Hadass‘ parents, Streisand‘s face is expressive enough (and so are those of Patinkin and Irving), we don‘t really need the running commentary in song to understand what‘s going on inside Yentl and what she makes of this entire situation, beautifully sung as it is. But those are really nitpicks, not serious objections. I still was moved by the story and by her take on Yentl upon rewatch.
The ending: even teen!me had heard this was complained about by the author, who not unreasonably pointed out a Yentl who emigrated to the US would have to work so hard as an immigrant that she wouldn‘t have time to study anymore, and thus her staying in ye olde word (in a different identity) as per his story would be more logical. But teen me did not care as Yentl seeking out a different country to see whether she could be a scholar and a woman there at the same time worked for me, plus the mythic dimension of the US as the land of opportunity as seen by a Polishwoman in 1906 without ever having been there were believable as well. Adult me had learned only last year that the world’s first female Rabbi was actually a German (Regina Jonas, born 1902, murdered in Auschwitz in 1944), whose thesis had already written about the subject „Can a woman be a Rabbi according to the Halachic sources?“ Emigrating to the US would have been definitely the preferable fate.
All in all: a movie worth rewatching, and I am glad it exists.
The first thing that struck me was how one aspect is still norm breaking - it‘s a musical, except it isn‘t, with only one character singing all the songs. (Checking the credits, I see the composer was later responsible for the 90s era most popular Disney cartoons.) Also: no dancing, except in the wedding scene, and there it‘s not the stylized athletic musical type of dancing but goes for realism of how participants of an early 20th century Jewish wedding might have danced. The songs are basically our look into Yentl‘s head, like theatre monologues, and that works amazingly well. (And of course Streisand sings them beautifully.)
The other norm that was shattered in the 1980s and is still very much a standard is that our heroine wants something more than True Love and sticks to that. Teenage 4509651´öpome upon first viewing decided early on this was clearly a rom com and naturally after the usual misunderstandings and near reveals after the grand climax and mutual declarations of love Yentl would end up with Avigdor. So I was stunned when the big emotional climax went into another direction completely. Not stunned in a bad way, I hasten to add. And it‘s still a powerful scene to watch, though both Avigdor‘s initial reaction („you‘re a monster“) and the later „you can‘t still want to study“, which is more devastating in a more subtle way - as Yentl says, how can he ask her that after debating non stop with her through all the time of knowing her? Caming after his own declaration of feeling and the suggestion of living together, it‘s worse than the initial shock and outburst, and really makes it clear why these two not ending up together is the right storytelling decision. Never mind romance, it‘s such a betrayal of their friendship that knowing her, he thinks she can live without studying and debating.
And no movie I had seen up to this point had ever done that with a love interest. It‘s still not done, not with the „real“ love interest anyway, only with The Wrong One (as a signal as to why they are wrong for our hero(ine) and not the endgame person. Morever, it‘s not done with sympathetic characters, which Avigdor despite said betrayal is. (BTW: I don‘t think I saw Mandy Patinkin - at least not consciously - in anything between Yentl and Dead Like Me, where he‘s Rube, everyone‘s favourite gruff mentor. And then in a couple of other similar roles, so returning to him in his youthful beauty was quite the whiplash.) This is far more shades of grey of a romance not working out without one of the partners being secretly the scum of the earth than most fiction allows. And again: That Yentl‘s passion for learning is her main drive throughout the film and remains so, that she does not change her mind in this regard because she falls in love: still hard to think of current day equivalents in successful movies (which this one was).
In some other aspects, you can tell the film is dated. (Though less so than I expected.) Yentl achieves emotional intimacy with Hadass and clearly does mean it when she replies to Hadass‘ „I love you“ with „I love you, too“ in their goodbye scene, but the film does also signal we‘re to understand this is not a sexual and/or romantic love on Yentl‘s part („She‘s mother, she‘s sister“ etc., or „I can never be what she needs“.) That Hadass, who if you‘re expecting to be the romantic rival if like teenage me in the 1980s you think this is a rom com, is a sympathetic character whom Yentl bonds with and changes her initial opinion about completely was then very refreshing, and Amy Irving does bring a lot more than good looks to the role… which still, today, feels underwritten. Of course we‘re in Yentl‘s pov throughout the film, but you still get a far better sense as to who Avigdor is as a person than of what‘s going on with Hadass. That she goes from being in love with Avigdor to being in love with „Anshel“ is believable in that the film shows us „Anshel“ actually talks to Hadass, instead of adoring her from afar, and makes her feel safe, plus we see them making each other laugh and being silly together which contrasts to the tense silent encounters between Hadass and Avigdor (to be fair, they don’t thave the chance to be together out of sight of her parents which is bound to make anyone awkward, but then there‘s also Avigdor‘s „who cares what she thinks?“ to Anshel). But the final sequence shows us Hadass being back in love with Avigdor again (and married to him), and I think/hope a current day take on the story would give us at least Hadass‘ pov on that one, or would let her find out the truth about „Anshel“ as well and not by letter. Not to mention that a lot of the „woman disguised as a man“ gags of the film, whether it’s Yentl after her initial encounter with Avigdor spending one night in the same bed which she‘s panicked about, or Yentl going out of her way to avoid spending a night in the same bed with Hadass later, which I remember caused roaring laughter in the cinema in the 1980s, would be done differently. I‘m not saying this would make the film better (or worse), just different. (For starters, presumably Yentl would wonder about her sexual identity more. And/or we‘d get more than a sentence by Avidgor later later indicating he did feel drawn to „Anshel“ as well while regarding „him“ as a man.)
Barbra Streisand does not look 17 (I think she was in her early 40s at this point), but it‘s never said explicitly how old „Anshel“ is supposed to be, and she does look believably androgynous (not to mention attractive) in her male get up. Sometimes I wish she‘d have trusted her acting more as a director, in that for example during the original invitation scene with Hadass‘ parents, Streisand‘s face is expressive enough (and so are those of Patinkin and Irving), we don‘t really need the running commentary in song to understand what‘s going on inside Yentl and what she makes of this entire situation, beautifully sung as it is. But those are really nitpicks, not serious objections. I still was moved by the story and by her take on Yentl upon rewatch.
The ending: even teen!me had heard this was complained about by the author, who not unreasonably pointed out a Yentl who emigrated to the US would have to work so hard as an immigrant that she wouldn‘t have time to study anymore, and thus her staying in ye olde word (in a different identity) as per his story would be more logical. But teen me did not care as Yentl seeking out a different country to see whether she could be a scholar and a woman there at the same time worked for me, plus the mythic dimension of the US as the land of opportunity as seen by a Polishwoman in 1906 without ever having been there were believable as well. Adult me had learned only last year that the world’s first female Rabbi was actually a German (Regina Jonas, born 1902, murdered in Auschwitz in 1944), whose thesis had already written about the subject „Can a woman be a Rabbi according to the Halachic sources?“ Emigrating to the US would have been definitely the preferable fate.
All in all: a movie worth rewatching, and I am glad it exists.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-28 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 03:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-02 12:38 pm (UTC)'Hello Dolly's' plot may not make perfect sense, but as a show, it just carries you away on the flood of her personality and singing.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 07:09 am (UTC)As for Yentl in particular: while it would work without the songs as a movie, I think there's something uniquely Streisand in having them, and the film would be less unique the other way.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-03 12:15 pm (UTC)Basically, focus on the music and don't ask too many questions! (But it does make it harder for her to write logical fanfic - and she's a really good writer, with the willingness to research the period)