While I saw this film 35 years ago when I was 13, and couldn't understand the parts where Yiddish was spoken without subtitles, I remember it being very enjoyable. It is a comedy and everyone has foibles, including the student, who often is self-important and pompous. I remember him explaining his sensitivity by saying, "I have a Jewish heart." Like everyone else doesn't?
One thing I picked up years later when this was the subject of a TV documentary, was a scene where the young son of the family, played by a very young Hershel Bernardi, invites the student to cross a river, symbolic that by simplifying his life he is, in a sense, crossing the River Jordan.
Not a bad idea, today, either.
One thing I picked up years later when this was the subject of a TV documentary, was a scene where the young son of the family, played by a very young Hershel Bernardi, invites the student to cross a river, symbolic that by simplifying his life he is, in a sense, crossing the River Jordan.
Not a bad idea, today, either.