Why I Liked... Funny Girl (1968)

(Dir. William Wyler Starring: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif)

So I didn’t realise William Wyler had made a made a film about my life. Or that I was Jewish. Or a singer.  Or that I was alive back in 1968.

Basically, I’m in love with this film. Which possibly means this review will be shorter than usual. Depends on if I get to the point of waffling.

So where to start? Funny Girl, to me, has a fantastic cinematic balance between real life and cinematic life. Of course, I do realise that this is based upon the musical of the same name, which is in turn based on the real life Fanny Brice of the Ziegfeld Follies. Yeah, I just needed you all to know that, and now I’m going to move on.

So, the balance between cinematic life and real life? Love it. I mean, I don’t know about you all, but if one were to make a film about my life, my parents, in particular my mother, would have a very large role to play. Because let’s face it-just how realistic are those films where the protagonist just appears to have come out of nowhere and has no family? And sadly, that does happen to people in the real world, but I guess I can proudly say that no matter what, my mother will have a say in my life.

Oh, that sounded worse than it actually is. I love you, mummy! (yes, she reads this blog...)

 Mama, can you hear me? Wrong musical...

Anyway, so it was entirely too easy to relate to Fanny (Streisand) who also had a fairly close relationship to her mother. And was severely insecure, so used humour to bypass those nasty feelings (me too!). And was so desperate to become a singer, so would do anything to get onto the stage, even if she wasn’t good at it (me too!). And appeared way more confident than she actually was (me too!). And was astonished when someone like Nick Arnstein (Sharif) actually showed some romantic interest in her (me too!).

Well, I’m fairly certain it wasn’t just me who found something in common with Fanny, but other than her readiness to open herself up for emotional turmoil, she’s someone I can relate to.

Other things I liked about this film-well, how many films can you say where the female protagonist actually matched her on-screen description? While I could never find Streisand to be ‘ugly’, I can definitely see why she felt shunned and insecure around girls who where more shapely, had smaller noses, and were delicate, fragile flowers opposite to her larger than life persona. Wow, that thought got a little out of control. Ok, what I mean to say is that finally, a female lead thought to be the ugly duckling who actually IS the ugly duckling. It’s not Natalie Portman or Kate Hudson or Jennifer Anniston shucking on a pair of glasses and a cardigan, and pretending that no man in the world can find any of them attractive.

The Awkward Every Girl.

This is Barbra freakin’ Streisand we’re talking about, and for some inconceivable reason, she’s never been considered a ‘conventional beauty’. Well, I couldn’t agree more-she’s a Queen.