I don’t think this would have been made or wide-released if Barbara Streisand wasn’t the driving force behind it. I’m sure financiers also wanted it to be a musical highlighting her singing, which makes it even more interesting that Yentl is the only character who sings or even acts like the film is a musical. I’m surprised Amy Irving and Streisand got the most accolades off of this, because Mandy Patinkin is amazing in this. This is a film where there is a true love triangle in the sense that it is all moving in one direction. Yentl loves Avigdor who loves Hadass who loves Anshel who is actually Yentl. The whole thing reads VERY Shakespearean comedy, but is played for drama here. I guess its more of a love circle than a triangle. I wish more attention could have been paid to the LGBTQ themes more as it is so interesting to think about what is in each of the three main character’s minds regarding their own sexuality. I think that is more a sign of the era it was made. With period romance films that play with gender, I much prefer something that takes a bigger swing with the story that is being told, like ORLANDO, but this still works well. Also FROZEN totally ripped off “Para Can You Hear Me?” with “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman,” I couldn’t help but hear it in there.
