“Yentl” is one of the most deeply touching films I’ve ever seen. I saw it for the first time when I was about ten, and the memory of it stayed with me until I saw it again, years later. Barbra Streisand truly shines in this role.
Her name is Yentl, and she’s the daughter of a rabbi. Women are forbidden to study the Talmud, but she badly yearns to have the religious education of her father and his students. At night, she draws the blinds and her father (Nehemiah Persoff) teaches her the sacred words of the book, knowing that if he were to be discovered, it would be the end for him. But he understands his daughter’s deep need to know, and fills that need.
When her father dies, Yentl doesn’t know what to do. Her family members will take her in, but they want to force her to live an ordinary life. She won’t be able to study any longer and will instead have to cook and sew, fulfilling the traditional woman’s role. She really doesn’t want to. Singing the song for which the movie is famous, “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” she makes a tough decision. She cuts off her hair, dresses in her deceased brother’s clothes, and runs away to attend a yeshiva, where she can study day and night.
On her way, she meets Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) a young man who is also going to the yeshiva. He believes Yentl to be a boy, and takes her under his wing. They room together at school and take all their classes together, and when Avigdor goes to the home of his fiancé for dinner, he takes Yentl along with him. He spends the evening staring at Hadass (Amy Irving) but Yentl spends the evening staring at him, realizing that she’s fallen for her best friend.
When it’s discovered that Avigdor’s brother committed suicide, Hadass’s family calls off the wedding, but according to an old Jewish law, another family member can marry her in Avigdor’s place. He begs Yentl to marry Hadass, feeling he can trust Yentl to take good care of Hadass for him. Yentl, of course, doesn’t want to, but ends up going through with it because of her love for Avigdor.
There are elements of sexuality in the film. Yentl is uncomfortable rooming with Avigdor, and we do see just a bit more of him than we would under normal circumstances. There is sexual tension between Hadass and Yentl as Hadass wonders why Yentl isn’t fulfilling “his” wedding night duty. Toward the end of the film, as Yentl tries to explain to Avigdor that she’s a woman, she does bare her breasts to him as proof. (The viewer doesn’t see anything.) This being said, I wouldn’t recommend this movie for children. However, I would whole-heartedly recommend it to moms and dads. The beauty of the culture, the depth of emotion, the music, the story—I’m sighing just remembering. This is truly a film worth watching.
This movie is rated PG.
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