A Barbra Streisand Trilogy

If Catherine Breillat covers female sexuality, leave it to Barbra Streisand to tackle female issues!

The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
Barbra plays Doris, a hooker who suddenly became homeless because a neighbor, Felix (George Segal), informs the landlord of her activities. She moved in with him only to argue all throughout the night. The landlord both threw them out and transferred to Felix's friend's apartment. The argument still continued till passion and desire grew between them.

This movie is laugh-out loud funny! I wet my eyes during the first hour of the film! Barbra looked so gorgeous and was funnier than Fanny Brice in Funny Girl/Funny Lady. The dialogues were crisp and clever! There was also a great repartee between Barbra and George.

This is one Barbra classic that shouldn't be missed!

Up the Sandbox (1971)
Have you ever met Ally McBeal's mother? Well, here she is! Meet Mrs. Margaret Reynolds who is so damned bored with being just a plain housewife that she needed to resort to fantasies and imaginings.

Sometimes, a woman just needs to be appreciated. I can imagine how hard it is to be such. Where do they get all the strenght and patience? Being a mother and a wife is hard as it is! What more if they have a career to hold on to? Hats off to you, woman kind!

The Way We Were (1976)
This is more of a Barbra film than a Streisand/Redford work. No wonder Robert Redford refused to do this several times. If not only for his friendship with director Sydney Pollack, he wouldn't be encouraged to do this. Why? His character didn't grow. There wasn't much introspection on what he is going through as a man and as Katie's lover. Somehow, he remained a decoration for Katie's unending desire to be the best that she could be.

Katie (Barbra) is a good character study, though. Here she is, a strong-willed woman who fights for what she thinks is right. She even could go against the government. But with her man, she loses. She compromises her needs and wants just to be with him. Yet, behind that, she pushes her man to do the best he could even if it wasn't in his character to push so hard. She's projecting her compromised desires on him.

As a romance/love story movie, this one is so sad. Here are two people, so in love with each other yet so wrong for one another. As far as relationships go, compromise is always needed. But when compromise became an obligation to both couple, in the end, both loses.