Barbra Streisand: From Actress to Director

When most people think of Barbra Streisand, they think of her illustrious acting career in movies like Funny Girl or The Way We Were. You might also think about her singing career which has spanned over 50 years, but what most people seem to forget is that Barbra Streisand is an incredibly accomplished — and important — director. She may only have directed three films in her career, but they each represent a milestone for female directorial recognition.

Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn to the son of Austro-Hungarian immigrants and the daughter of Russian immigrants. Shortly after her first birthday, her father passed away, forcing her mother to enter the workforce as a secretary in order to provide for their family. Barbra graduated high school at sixteen and promptly started her singing and stage career with her first album coming out in 1963 and her first Broadway appearance in 1962. When Barbra got the role of Fanny Brice in the musical, Funny Girl, her career changed forever. The movie version came out in 1968, winning her the Oscar for Best Actress. This launched her as a bankable movie star; an honor that few women of the era held. The  60s and 70s were quite productive for her as she made several movies including What’s Up Doc and Hello Dolly! 

A Star is Born

Even though she was just credited as an actress in these films, Barbra began to assert her power behind the camera; particularly in the film, A Star is Born, where stories from the set revealed the film’s director irritated by his star's demands (according to the article he wrote about her). Streisand brought a feminist angle to the film franchise which had been absent in previous versions. In her film, her character proposes marriage, is more confident in work, and has more control over her songs than in all four versions of the film. She is also credited with using her own wardrobe for the film and until 2019, was the only person to win an Oscar from the franchise with her song “Evergreen,” With the new-found taste of artistic control, Barbra was finally ready to move into directing. 

A Streisand Impersonator Protests Yentl’s Snub

At 40, Streisand directed her first film, Yentl, about a young Jewish girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to study at a Yeshiva. Initially, she wanted famed Czech director Ivan Passer to direct the film, but when she did not like his drafts, she set out to do the job herself. The studios had little faith in her and gave her such a miniscule budget that she was not even paid for writing. Luckily for her, the film was a hit as it earned $40 million at the box office and she became the first woman to win the Golden Globe for Best Director —  the only woman to win until Chloe Zhao won for Nomadland. Her next feature is probably her most lauded, The Prince of Tides, based on the novel by Pat Conroy, in which she plays a psychiatrist who falls in love with her troubled patient played by Nick Nolte.While she remained without an Oscar nomination for direction, the film has been praised for its performances and unflinching portrayal of abuse. The last film Streisand directed was The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996, the story of two professors who fall in love. While this film is of a lighter tone than her other two, it falls in line with the theme of romantic love being tied to intellectual debate and discussion. 

Even though all three films have offered incredible entertainment and diversity of perspectives, Streisand’s directorial career has been unfairly viewed as a vanity project and her choices to direct, write and star in films has been seen as “selfish,” a perspective that her contemporary male counterpart, Warren Beatty, was not subjected to despite doing the same thing. Even Isaac Bashevis Singer, the author of the short story that Yentl is based on wrote that, “No matter how good you are, you don't take everything for yourself. I don't mean to say that my script was perfect, or even good. But at least I understood that in this case the leading actress cannot monopolize the stage.” Some journalists have even reported that the reason she had yet to be nominated for her directorial triumphs was because she was an unlikable diva. Nevertheless, Streisand remains a pillar for women directors, and when the 2010 Oscars ceremony came around, she was the one to open the envelope and say, “Well the time has come… Kathryn Bigelow.”

Making Yentl can only be described as an uphill battle, one Streisand was willing to fight. She had read the short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer shortly after making Funny Girl and was hooked with the opening four words, “After her father’s death,” since she lost her father at 15 months. She bought the rights but no one was interested. Even the female Jewish producers she talked to couldn’t see the story of a young Jewish girl in Eastern Europe selling in the heartland.

Orion finally agreed to produce the film but she had the misfortune of submitting her budget on the same day that Heaven’s Gate — the infamous box office failure —  came out so they pulled out. She would then turn to United Artists, who offered a much smaller budget, but that didn’t matter because she used this film as a way to get closer to her father, Judaism, and the women’s lib movement.

Yentl’s journey can be seen as her struggle to make her father proud. Her father is a learned man who secretly teaches her the Talmud at her insistence, but her knowledge has only brought him trouble. When he dies, she wants to show that she can learn the Talmud in a way that contributes to society. The first song in the film is “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” and is meant as a prayer to him asking him to guide her on her journey. Compare this to her final song, “Papa, Watch Me Fly.” By this point, she finally proved to herself that her Talmudic studies are really worthwhile. Her journey ends knowing that she is finally making her father proud; a cathartic experience for Streisand. The film also connects her to her Jewish past. She had only gone to a Jewish Day School from ages 5 to 8, so over a three year period, she began studying the Talmud under famed author and rabbi, Chaim Potok. 

Her film celebrates the Jewish tradition of religious debate. All around Yentl, there are constant conversations and arguments about the letter of God and she often participates. She discusses varying translations of the Adam & Eve myth and the different consequences for each. Even the musical is structured to fit in this religious tale, not the other way around. Until the last number, all songs are done through voice over in Streisand’s head, almost as if they are prayers. It is a miracle that this film got made, since Judaism is not an accessory but foundational to the film. Unlike other Jewish focused films of the time, it is practically devoid of antisemitism. The film is not about Jewish struggle, but about triumph and in that way, Yentl stands alone.

Moreover, one of the more striking elements of Yentl is not its celebration of tradition, but it’s rejection of gender norms. Streisand is very aware of how much her situation resembles Yentl’s. She too is a woman in a man’s role and faces similar criticism. Yentl is not just told that she shouldn’t study but that women who do are demonic. Yentl has to accept the role of a man and reject womanhood. She is confronted with her decision when she meets her study partner, Avigdor’s fiance, Hadass. She is secretly in love with Avigdor but her song “No Wonder” which describes how easy Hadass is to love, does not express the jealousy she could only express if she was openly a woman. Her song ends “No wonder he loves her... What else could he do?  If I were a man… I would too!” Yentl offers an incredibly early dialogue on trans issues with these subtle lyrics rather than sticking to the traditional narrative of the jealous woman.

Later in the film, Yentl actually becomes close friends with Hadass and even teaches her the Talmud secretly, something even Avigdor would not do. The film is a product of the Women’s lib era, a movement Streisand was a big part of. Streisand emphasizes the importance of individual passions over romantic love. When Yentl sings the song “This Is One of Those Moments” which details how she will remember this time for the rest of her life, she is not talking about her recent meeting with Avigdor, but the first time she has entered the Yeshiva as an equal. Later when she reveals herself to Avigdor and he accepts her, she refuses him because he won’t let her go to the Yeshiva. Her love of learning exceeds her love for him. Though, for all the progress the film gives for female, trans, and Jewish representation, Streisand shows the limits of western feminism. The film ends with Yentl finally free on her way to America, but would that really be a happy ending? Bashevis Singer wrote “What would Yentl have done in America? Worked in a sweatshop twelve hours a day when there was no time for learning? Would she try to marry a salesman in New York, move to the Bronx or Brooklyn and rent an apartment with an ice box and a dumb waiter?” Streisand’s idyllic views of America as a haven are naive, ill-conceived and detract from Yentl’s journey. Nevertheless, the film remains an important story that challenges the status quo and takes the ideas of gender in a foreign and fully realised setting; which made her stand out as ahead of her time, but very relevant even to this day.