Yentl (Two-Disc Director's Cut)
by Barbra Streisand
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DVD details
Actor: Amy Irving, Barbra Streisand, Mandy Patinkin, Nehemiah Persoff, Steven HillDirector: Barbra Streisand
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 132 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-02-03
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Yentl (Two-Disc Director's Cut)
DVD Review: Finally on DVD, Streisand's Prodigious Labor of Love Still Holds Up Due to Her Heartfelt Approach
Summary: 4 Stars
The 25th Anniversary Edition DVD of Barbra Streisand's 1983 directorial debut is here at last, and it is chock full of bonus features. Highlights include a new introduction by Streisand, a commentary track from her as well as the film's executive producer Rusty Lemorande, and most intriguingly, eleven deleted scenes. As the first of only three films she has directed (so far), Streisand's labor of love still holds up as a charming turn-of-the-last-century fable that blends a contemporary sense of its three principal characters with an elaborately orchestrated soundtrack.
The movie plays out very much like the way she uniquely sings a song - beautifully lush, emotionally intimate and a bit overdone albeit forgivably so. Regardless, what makes this film genuinely successful is the heartfelt manner in which Streisand chooses to tell her version of Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story, Yentl the Yeshiva Boy. Co-written by her and English playwright Jack Rosenthal, the plot focuses on a young Jewish woman in Eastern Europe who has been tutored on the Talmud by her scholarly father. Since women are forbidden to receive a formal education, it remains a clandestine vocation until her father dies at which point she cuts off her hair, dresses like a boy, and seeks passage to the nearest Talmudic academy. En route, under the guise of Anshel, she meets Avigdor with whom she falls in love. Complications ensue since Yentl cannot reveal her true identity to Avigdor, who is in love with the comely Hadass, but Hadass becomes attracted to Anshel through the machinations of Avigdor when he is forbidden by Hadass' father to marry her.
Streisand directs this romantic roundelay with warmth and sincerity rather than cheap laughs, and naturally, as a means to bridge her dramatic interpretations of the big ballads penned by Michel Legrand and her favorite lyricists, Alan & Marilyn Bergman. The songs reflect interior monologues to express how Yentl feels in any given situation, and the conjoining technique works beautifully since the songs are so well crafted and Streisand is in glorious, emotionally unfettered voice. The best are the solitarily prayerful Papa Can You Hear Me? under a starry night sky, the lusciously unrequited passion driving The Way He Makes Me Feel, and the triumphant declaration of No Matter What Happens. As expected from as meticulous a novice filmmaker as Streisand, the production values are superior, especially David Watkin's burnished cinematography and Roy Walker's production design.
In truth, Streisand looks too old as Yentl the yearning woman, but in full drag as Anshel, she looks ideally boyish. As she traverses genders back and forth with a fumbling grace, it is probably the most subtle acting she has done in films. Mandy Patinkin, then more famous as a singing Ché Guevara in Evita, makes for a potent romantic lead bringing a surly intellect and smoldering passion to Avigdor. As the third corner in the triangle, Amy Irving convincingly plays the subservient bride-to-be with sly intelligence. Veteran character actor Nehemiah Persoff (Some Like It Hot) makes his few poignant scenes count as Yentl's father. A bit overlong at 132 minutes, it isn't a perfect film but it remains an impressive directorial debut and the first film that validates Streisand's exalted standing as a multi-hyphenate entertainment figure.
Description of Yentl (Two-Disc Director's Cut)
Disc 1: Theatrical Cut (Widescreen Feature) Director's Extended Cut (Widescreen Feature) with added scenes from Barbra's Archives An Introduction by Barbra Streisand Commentary with Barbra Streisand and Rusty Lemorande Deleted ScenesDisc 2: Special Features with Materials from Barbra's Archives An Introduction by Barbra Streisand The Director's Reel The Rehearsal Process with Materials from Barbra's Archives An Introduction by Barbra Streisand ?Where is it Written?? Original Rehearsal Concept ?Where is it Written?? Rehearsal/Feature Comparison ?No Wonder - Reprise? Pre-Rehearsal/Feature Comparison ?Tomorrow Night? Pre-Rehearsal Concept ?Tomorrow Night? Pre-Rehearsal/Feature Comparison ?Will Someone Ever Look at Me That Way?? Rehearsal/Feature Comparison ?The Moon and I? Deleted Song Storyboard Sequence ?Several Sins a Day? Deleted Song Storyboard Sequence Barbra's 8mm Concept Film (Play with Narration / Play without Narration) My Wonderful Cast and Crew Production Stills Gallery Portraits Stills Gallery Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery The Recording Studio Stills Gallery Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trail
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