Barbra Streisand on her passion to make ‘Yentl’: ‘I had a vision of it’

Susan King
·5 min read

When Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” opened on Nov. 18, 1983, directing was very much a man’s world. In the 1970s, there had been a few inroads for women. Italian director Lina Wertmuller was nominated for best director for 1976’s “Seven Beauties” Stateside, actress Barbara Loden, who was married to Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan, wrote, directed and starred in the acclaimed 1970 indie drama “Wanda,” which won best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival. She never followed up with another movie and died of breast cancer in 1980.

There was also Joan Micklin Silver (“Hester Street”), Claudia Weill (“Girlfriends”), Martha Coolidge (“Not a Pretty Picture”), Joan Tewkesbury (“Old Boyfriends”) and Joan Darling (“First Love”). But those filmmakers ran into brick walls when they tried to set up projects with the major studios. The late Silver told Vanity Fair in 2021 that a studio executive didn’t mince his word: “Feature films are expensive to make and expensive to market, and women directors are one more problem we don’t need.” Female directors who did get to direct studio films such as Elaine May, who made her debut with 1971’s “A New Leaf,” ran into obstacles.

More from GoldDerby

Even a superstar like Streisand, who had already won two Oscars — for best actress for 1968’s “Funny Girl” and song for “Evergreen” from 1976’s “A Star is Born,” which she co-wrote with Paul Williams — didn’t find it that easy. Streisand, who just published her long-awaited memoir “My Name is Barbra,” told me in a 2009 L.A. Times interview that she didn’t put her name on the adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s beloved story set in Poland in 1904.

“I was afraid if they saw my name on it [people in Hollywood] wouldn’t have liked it.” She also decided to put the credits at the end of the film because “In those days, the credits of the film were at the beginning. The reason I didn’t put it on in the beginning is that I didn’t want audiences to be prejudiced- ‘oh, she directed it’-and have them think about it. I think it easier for women who weren’t actresses to become directors.” These days, she added people “don’t look askance” at a female director, it’s a female director.”

The musical drama revolves around Yentl (Streisand) who wants to study the Torah but because women aren’t allowed to study, disguises herself as a man named Anshel. But the path to becoming a scholar isn’t easy. She falls I love with fellow student (Mandy Patinkin) who, in turn, is in love with a beautiful young woman (Amy Irving). Because her parents won’t let him marry her, he asks Anshel to marry her. (Streisand admits in her memoir that she and Patinkin didn’t have the best relationship during production.)

Streisand brought the rights to Singer’s “Yentl the Yeshiva Boy” in 1968, the same year she made her film debut in “Funny Girl.” Though she thought it was a universal story about “the limits put upon a woman just because she wanted an education,” she was told that audiences wouldn’t want to see her play another Jewish character so soon after playing Fanny Brice.

Initially, Streisand didn’t want direct “Yentl” and had discussions with several directors including France’s Claude Berri who had made one of her favorite films, “The Two of Us,” the award-winning 1967 drama about the surprisingly friendship that develops between a Gentile and young Jewish boy during World War II. “I was frightened to do it myself, but I had a vision of it. I was looking for a sign whether or not to direct it.” And she found that sign visiting the grave of her father Emmanuel Streisand, who died when she was just 15 months old. “I had never been to my father’s grave -isn’t that interesting-until I was 39-year-old.”  It just so happened that the tombstone next to her father’s was for a person named Anshel. “That was the sign. I have to direct it.”

Reviews were generally good — it’s 67% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — with Pauline Kael, no less, singing its praises: “It has a distinctive and surprising spirit. It’s funny, delicate and intense-all at the same time.” Singer wasn’t pleased declaring he didn’t find “artistic merit” in the adaptation or directing.

“Yentl” made $40 million, which translates into $123 million today. It won the Golden Globe for best motion picture for comedy or musical and Streisand became the first female filmmaker to win best director. And she was competing against such heavyweights as Ingmar Bergman (“Fanny & Alexander”), James L. Brooks (“Terms of Endearment”), Bruce Beresford (“Tender Mercies”). Mike Nichols (“Silkwood”) and Peter Yates (“The Dresser”). Chloe Zhao was the second female director to receive the Globe 37 years after Streisand for 2020’s “Nomadland”; Jane Campion was the third for 2021’s “The Power of the Dog”.

Though she failed to earn an Oscar nomination for best director, “Yentl” received five Academy Award nominations including supporting actress for Amy Irving, and best song for “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” and “The Way He Makes Me Feel” by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand. The trio won the film’s only Oscar for best music, original song score and its adaptation or best adaptation score.

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.