Rom-coms could stand to take notes from its earnest, intense sense of compassion and depth of feeling for its main character’s conflicted affections.

From its first romantic encounter, as two pairs of eyes lock across a crowded room, to its last tremulous one, Crossing Delancey is unqualified pleasure, bound on every side by love.

Miss Irving, who's in virtually every scene, gives Izzy a refreshing worldliness, a hint of disappointment and a hard-won wisdom that banish any trace of ingenuousness from the role.

Along with Hester Street, it positions Joan Micklin Silver as one of the most notable chroniclers in film of the American Jewish experience, particularly Jewish womanhood.