IMDb > Esther Kahn (2000)

Esther Kahn (2000) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
6.6/10   489 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?

Down 3% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Arnaud Desplechin

Writers:

Emmanuel Bourdieu (writer)
Arnaud Desplechin (writer)
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Contact:

View company contact information for Esther Kahn on IMDbPro.

Release Date:

4 October 2000 (France) more

Genre:

Drama more

Plot:

A Jewish girl in 19th century London dreams of becoming a stage actress. | add synopsis

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination more

NewsDesk:

A Christmas Tale
 (From The AV Club. 13 November 2008, 1:04 PM, PST)

User Comments:

exhausting yet unconvincing portrait of the artist as young woman more (15 total)


Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Summer Phoenix ... Esther Kahn

Ian Holm ... Nathan Quellen
Fabrice Desplechin ... Philippe Haygard

Akbar Kurtha ... Samuel Kahn
Frances Barber ... Rivka Kahn
László Szabó ... Ytzhok Kahn
Hilary Sesta ... Buba
Claudia Solti ... Mina Kahn
Berna Raif ... Becky Kahn
Paul Regan ... Joel
Arnold Brown ... Rabbi
Leon Lissek ... Theatre manager
Ian Bartholomew ... Norton
Samantha Lavelle ... Christel
Paul Ritter ... Alman, the photographer
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Additional Details

Also Known As:

eSTheR KaHN (France) (poster title)
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Runtime:

USA:142 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK


Fun Stuff

Trivia:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2000 (#01) more


FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful.
exhausting yet unconvincing portrait of the artist as young woman, 15 April 2001
4/10
Author: eric gans (gans@humnet.ucla.edu) from los angeles

The point of the vastly extended preparatory phase of this Star is Born story seems to be to make ultimate success all the more sublime. Summer Phoenix is very effective as an inarticulate young woman imprisoned within herself but never convincing as the stage actress of growing fame who both overcomes and profits from this detachment. Even in the lengthy scenes of Esther's acting lessons, we never see her carry out the teacher's instructions. After suffering through Esther's (largely self-inflicted) pain in excruciating detail, we are given no persuasive sense of her triumph.

The obsessive presence of the heroine's pain seems to be meant as a guarantee of aesthetic transcendence. Yet the causes of this pain (poverty, quasi-autism, Judaism, sexual betrayal) never come together in a coherent whole. A 163-minute film with a simple plot should be able to knit up its loose ends. Esther Kahn is still not ready to go before an audience.

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