The Cannes Festival, which awarded an honorary Palme d’Or to Barbra Streisand on May 23, 2026, hailed her as “the legendary synthesis between Broadway and Hollywood, between the music hall stage and the big cinema screen”. A coronation for the 84-year-old American artist who combines talents and awards. In cinema, two Oscars, in theater, a Tony, on television, five Emmys, and in music, ten Grammys. She is the only singer to have had at least one album top the charts in each of the last six decades.
This brilliant journey that a documentary describes in detail can be explained as much by his talent as by his determination. Nicknamed “ugly”, Barbra Streisand had a sad childhood in New York. A father who died when she was 1 year old, an unloving mother, adversity forges the tenacity of a teenager eager to succeed and to leave her ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn to shine in the spotlight.
“Yentl”, the film of this life
Her grandfather was the Cantor of her synagogue in Russia, she has a voice that sends shivers. As soon as she sings in cabarets and gay clubs, New York goes crazy for this tornado of energy and humor with an extraordinary face and nose that she will keep despite all odds.
Alongside Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, the debutante earns her star stripes thanks to her tone, her nerve and her self-deprecation. Great films, Funny Girl (1968), Hello, Dolly! (1969), or Our Most Beautiful Years (1973) alongside Robert Redford, hits galore, nothing is enough for the conquering diva.
The artist took fourteen years to make the film of his life. She is director, producer, screenwriter and star of Yentl (1983), adapted from a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. This story of a woman cross-dressing as a man to study the Talmud marks a personal and public peak for Barbra Streisand and crowns her uncompromising artistic standards.
