I ran home in a hurricane-level rainstorm to be sure I got this on tape when it was re-run, alas, for the final time, on American television in the mid-1980s. And what's sadder is that the storm made most of it into screen dust. My parents, Ruth and Ted Levine, were still alive, back then, and they just ate this film up. It's a funny, poignant, and oddly transnational expression of the notion of Jewish life; and it contains what is, for me, still, one of the best short rabbinic speeches about the nature of G-d you will ever hear. I have truly never seen a short film capture better the nature of the Jewish family with its all short-comings and glories.
6 Reviews
Season 7 Episode 1
blacknorth14 March 2009
The thing about making a particular film brilliant or unbrilliant, memorable or unmemorable, is availability. There were over 20 other entries in the 1976 series of Play For Today, but Bar Mitzvah Boy is probably the only one which has remained in print and, therefore, in memory. The success of the play was almost unparalleled for a BBC film - it played repeatedly on US television throughout the 70's and 80's, there was talk of a feature film, even a musical. Bar Mitzvah Boy isn't substantially better than any other Play For Today I've seen. In fact, it's one of the poorer episodes of the 80 or so I've been lucky enough to find. So why did it make such an impact? First, it is a cultural product - a young Jewish boy's rite of passage. Not being Jewish, I can't share the cultural experience, but I can compare it, say, to a First Communion for a Catholic child and empathise. Second, that empathy is key to the writing, and it is the late great Jack Rosenthal who delivers a script which transcends the Jewishness of the occasion, making it widely accessible to everyone. It is through the family's petty preparations and squabbles over the head of the boy that he achieves this empathy.
My gripe about Bar Mitzvah Boy is that it is one of those esteemed successes which unfairly eclipse their contemporaries. For that reason it needs to be treated with caution - too much praise can be a bad thing. This is not the fault of writer Jack Rosenthal, or director Michael Tuchner, or the cast, all of whom do a sterling job - it's because of the BBC's absurd closed archive that we have no yardstick against which to judge the quality of Bar Mitzvah Boy. The preceding play, House Of Bernada Alba, and the following, Bet Your Life, remain as mysterious to me as any Bar Mitzvah.
My gripe about Bar Mitzvah Boy is that it is one of those esteemed successes which unfairly eclipse their contemporaries. For that reason it needs to be treated with caution - too much praise can be a bad thing. This is not the fault of writer Jack Rosenthal, or director Michael Tuchner, or the cast, all of whom do a sterling job - it's because of the BBC's absurd closed archive that we have no yardstick against which to judge the quality of Bar Mitzvah Boy. The preceding play, House Of Bernada Alba, and the following, Bet Your Life, remain as mysterious to me as any Bar Mitzvah.
Great examination of a major Jewish rite of passage
wrxsti5422 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Bar Mitzvah Boy follows the preparations of a 13 year old Jewish boy Eliot Green (Jeremy Steyn) based in mid '70's North London for the most important rite of passage for all male Jews. Eliot's father Victor (Bernard Spear) is a taxi driver and his stay at home mum Rita (Maria Charles) are excited for the big day and plan a typical big Bar Mitzvah party for Eliot. Eliot learns the necessary Hebrew passages and chants and all seems good for the big day.
The trouble is Eliot sees the flaws of the men in his extended family and finds they don't comport with the ideals of the Rabbi and of the faith. At the height of the ceremony in the synagogue, Eliot bolts and is nowhere to be seen for hours bringing shame and humiliation in his parents. His sister Lesley (Adrianne Posta) finds him in the park and he proves to her he can recite the entire required incantations but reveals his inadequacy at becoming a man. Eliot sheepishly returns home to the opprobrium of particularly his mother. The wise Rabbi visits and, after hearing Eliot's flawless recitation of the required Torah passages, declares the Bar Mitzvah was successful allowing the elaborately catered party to continue without a humiliating cancellation.
This made-for-TV film was part of the famous BBC TV Drama series renowned for its quality and exploration of interesting topics. The acting is excellent especially that of 14 year old Jeremy Steyn in the lead role. It was also a fascinating exposition of the life of a modern lower middle class practicing Jewish family and a great snapshot of adolescent life in mid 70's Britain.
The trouble is Eliot sees the flaws of the men in his extended family and finds they don't comport with the ideals of the Rabbi and of the faith. At the height of the ceremony in the synagogue, Eliot bolts and is nowhere to be seen for hours bringing shame and humiliation in his parents. His sister Lesley (Adrianne Posta) finds him in the park and he proves to her he can recite the entire required incantations but reveals his inadequacy at becoming a man. Eliot sheepishly returns home to the opprobrium of particularly his mother. The wise Rabbi visits and, after hearing Eliot's flawless recitation of the required Torah passages, declares the Bar Mitzvah was successful allowing the elaborately catered party to continue without a humiliating cancellation.
This made-for-TV film was part of the famous BBC TV Drama series renowned for its quality and exploration of interesting topics. The acting is excellent especially that of 14 year old Jeremy Steyn in the lead role. It was also a fascinating exposition of the life of a modern lower middle class practicing Jewish family and a great snapshot of adolescent life in mid 70's Britain.
Fantastic if you're Jewish
Saul Marks19 September 2001
The Bar Mitzvah Boy is not quite classified as a film, more as a play, though it is worthy of film status in my view. It is a very comical look at the dynamics of a British Jewish family on the eve of their son's Bar Mitzvah.
The film was written by Jack Rosenthal (Jewish, and husband of popular British comedienne, Maureen Lipman) and obviously aimed at an audience of British Jews. I'm no racist, but the nature of the humour is such that only those with an intimate knowledge of the way a Jewish family works can gain full enjoyment from it. Every character is a hilarious caricature, instantly recognisable as a Jewish stereotype, with Maria Charles' Rita stealing the show as the highly-strung mother.
However, Rosenthal's humour can be enjoyed on all levels, from the one-liners delivered with perfect sincerity down to the subtleties such as the relationships between the sister and her boyfriend and between the rabbi and the synagogue caretaker. The film is incredibly detailed, even in the conduction of the synagogue service, recitation of the Hebrew and liberal use of Yiddish idioms. Of all the Hollywood blockbusters I have seen, none could be more detailed than this simple, low-budget production.
My father and I both find The Bar Mitzvah Boy hilarious, and an amazingly accurate, yet hilarious take on the Anglo-Jewish way of life, despite its age.
As I say, non-Jews would probably find it mildly amusing, but anyone brought up Jewish in middle England in the 20th Century, especially those of us who have had a Bar Mitzvah ourselves, will be in stitches at regular intervals!
The film was written by Jack Rosenthal (Jewish, and husband of popular British comedienne, Maureen Lipman) and obviously aimed at an audience of British Jews. I'm no racist, but the nature of the humour is such that only those with an intimate knowledge of the way a Jewish family works can gain full enjoyment from it. Every character is a hilarious caricature, instantly recognisable as a Jewish stereotype, with Maria Charles' Rita stealing the show as the highly-strung mother.
However, Rosenthal's humour can be enjoyed on all levels, from the one-liners delivered with perfect sincerity down to the subtleties such as the relationships between the sister and her boyfriend and between the rabbi and the synagogue caretaker. The film is incredibly detailed, even in the conduction of the synagogue service, recitation of the Hebrew and liberal use of Yiddish idioms. Of all the Hollywood blockbusters I have seen, none could be more detailed than this simple, low-budget production.
My father and I both find The Bar Mitzvah Boy hilarious, and an amazingly accurate, yet hilarious take on the Anglo-Jewish way of life, despite its age.
As I say, non-Jews would probably find it mildly amusing, but anyone brought up Jewish in middle England in the 20th Century, especially those of us who have had a Bar Mitzvah ourselves, will be in stitches at regular intervals!
funny whatever faith you are
didi-53 April 2010
Jack Rosenthal's work is accessible to all audiences, which is part of its charm, and even work with a heavily Jewish theme, like Bar Mitzvah Boy, can speak to anyone.
Young Eliot has reached thirteen and his family are rushing around arranging the most important day in his life - but does he have other plans? Mother, father, sister, sister's boyfriend, grandpa all have a part to play in Eliot's transition from boy to man - and with names like Maria Charles in the cast, you know this is going to be fun.
Perhaps Bar Mitzvah Boy does have an inflated reputation because it is one of the best known Play for Todays - however, I think it hasn't dated a bit and is still extremely entertaining. It has a lot to say about family, tradition, and adolescence much of which still applies today even outside of Jewish families.
Young Eliot has reached thirteen and his family are rushing around arranging the most important day in his life - but does he have other plans? Mother, father, sister, sister's boyfriend, grandpa all have a part to play in Eliot's transition from boy to man - and with names like Maria Charles in the cast, you know this is going to be fun.
Perhaps Bar Mitzvah Boy does have an inflated reputation because it is one of the best known Play for Todays - however, I think it hasn't dated a bit and is still extremely entertaining. It has a lot to say about family, tradition, and adolescence much of which still applies today even outside of Jewish families.
Thoroughly enjoyable!
chuffnobbler11 August 2004
To add to the previous comment, I think this can easily be enjoyed by any viewer, Jewish or otherwise! I am not Jewish, and was fascinated by the detail and attention given to the Bar Mitzvah service, and the significance it plays in the life of an ordinary family.
The stresses and strains of family life, and the role the wider community performs in the ordinary life of ordinary people, had me hooked. Loved it, laughed a lot, and thought Maria Charles as the harassed mother, was incredible. The sequence following her new hairdo is a beaut! Small details, such as the barbershop that is closed for the Sabbath, and the relationship between the Rabbi and his caretaker, give a real insight into the Jewish community. A pleasure to watch.
The stresses and strains of family life, and the role the wider community performs in the ordinary life of ordinary people, had me hooked. Loved it, laughed a lot, and thought Maria Charles as the harassed mother, was incredible. The sequence following her new hairdo is a beaut! Small details, such as the barbershop that is closed for the Sabbath, and the relationship between the Rabbi and his caretaker, give a real insight into the Jewish community. A pleasure to watch.
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