Product Tag - Jeannie Berlin

The film focuses on the trials and tribulations of Alexander Portnoy, a Jewish man employed as the assistant commissioner of human opportunity for New York City. During a session with his psychoanalyst, he explores his childhood, his relationship with his overbearing mother, his sexual fantasies and desires, his problems with women, and his obsession with his own religion. Via flashbacks, we learn about his affairs with Bubbles Girardi, the daughter of a local hoodlum; Israeli Naomi; and shiksa Mary Jane Reid, whose nickname “Monkey” reflects her remarkable agility at achieving a variety of sexual positions. Mary Jane seemingly is the girl of Portnoy’s dreams, but as their relationship deepens and she begins to pressure him into giving her a ring, he shrinks from making a permanent commitment to her. Wikipedia