I just finished watching the movie and the last part of it made me break down. But after she sang the last song, what happened? Did she get a divorce with Nick?
"Love is like the wind. You cannot see it, but you can always feel it." --A Walk to Remember.
Yes, they did indeed get a divorce.
Some people complained about the film version's ending - Jule Styne, in particular. He said that "My Man" made Fanny look weak and self-pitying, as opposed to the stage version's reprise of "Don't Rain On My Parade" in the closing scene.
I love it, myself. Fanny loved Nick, and it's understandable that she *would* feel miserable after deciding to divorce.
"Samantha! You picked a lemon in the garden of love!"
Wasn't "My Man" one of Fanny Brice's signature songs in the Follies? Maybe that's why they had her sing it. Kinda like saying "The Show Must Go On!"
shareThe finale is a bone of contention with Funny Girl "purists". The closing of the original Broadway version was another "showstopper" torch song The Music that Makes Me Dance, which some feel was actually a better song. Like the rest of the score, it was written by Styne/Merrill.
As is the case with most musicals that transition to film, the score was tinkered with---taking out some songs and adding others. In the end, the collaborators substituted a song (My Man) that Brice actually sang in the Follies. This decision must have happened quite early on, because by the closing night of the Broadway run and into 1965-1967, Streisand frequently performed My Man (in her TV special, in concert, and on record) almost as a sneak preview of the coming film in 1968.
...in a movie theater (as part of a summer film series)--it was a 35mm print in excellent condition. It's a lovely film to look at.
For my own part, I have always loved Streisand's tour-de-force performance of "My Man," which she sang in the film "live" (i.e., on the spot, without lip syncing to a prerecorded track), in mostly one long take. The song itself, a Fanny Brice standard, is, indeed, self-pitying and self-denigrating. But the way Streisand sings it, the song metamorphoses into something else: In the first part, she sings the lyrics haltingly, through tears, but then she begins to sing with a power that keeps building and building until that final, joyously assertive note, during which she spreads her arms and throws back her head. We know that she will be fine--that Nick Arnstein was right to call her a strong woman. Through sheer self-assertion, she transcends the song's self-denigration.
miro101 i got goosebumps reading your reply. youre totally right. she goes through the stages of a breakup in front of a load of people. the sadness and halting of moving forward, getting a lil stronger, you get a feeling that shes learning what went wrong, then she opens her arms exposing her heart to a new love, realizing she will be ok and shes a strong woman. its really just beautiful.
shareI loved this ending. She was still a girl in love with Nick. 'My Man" was wonderful. In Funny Lady she has matured...even though she thinks she's still in love with Nick.
shareThe question of whether or not they were headed for divorce is answered in the script. Before Nick leaves for prison, he asks Fanny to divorce him. Though she doesn't like the idea, she replies -
FANNY: Nick - you think you mean this, and maybe you do. But maybe it's just because of all that's happened. So why don't we just leave it for now, and if you still feel the same way when you come home, I won't fight you. OK?
When Nick returns in the penultimate scene, it's clear he doesn't want to continue. He tries to address the facts -
NICK: Fanny, I've had eighteen months to think about us -
FANNY: You wanna hear something funny? I've had the same eighteen months, and I never thought about us. (He gives her an uncomprehending look) Oh, no - I mean I simmered, I stewed, I cried my eyes out. But I never really thought - not until today. And I saw that you were right.
Naturally, the movie presented an idealized version of their parting, but I liked it anyway; I only wish all break-ups could occur with such maturity and lack of bitterness. And I suppose it reflected the feelings of the real Fanny Brice, who never stopped loving Nick - even if he had been a bit of a rat. Talking about the divorce years later, she reportedly said: "I went after something I didn't want, and I got it." Reflecting on her marriages to Arnstein and Billy Rose, she made the following comparison: "I never loved the man I liked, and I never liked the man I loved."
Yes, the ending was sad but at least Nick delivered the message to Fanny in person.
And, thanks for the explanations in this thread - I, too, was kind of wondering if maybe they'd stayed together but, alas, no...
'This isn't a smile. It's the lid on a scream.' - Bet Lynch, Coronation Street