Esther Kahn

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Esther Kahn ★★ 2000 (PG)

Esther (Phoenix) is growing up in the poor East End of London at the end of the 19th century—the daughter of a Jewish tailor. When Esther attends a Yiddish stage play, she decides that she must become an actress and approaches a local theatre for work. She is later taken under the wing of older actor Nathan (Holm), who advises her to take a lover for emotional experience. Esther gets involved with drama critic, Philip Haygard (Desplechin), is betrayed, but achieves a more-desired stage triumph. Adapted from a short story by Arthur Symons. 145m/C VHS, DVD . FR GB Summer Phoenix, Ian Holm, Emmanuelle Devos, Fabrice Desplechin, Frances Barber, Laszlo Szabo; D: Arnaud Desplechin; W: Arnaud Desplechin, Emmanuel Bourdieu; C: Eric Gautier; M: Howard Shore.