IMDb RATING
6.7/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
A Jewish girl in 19th-century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.A Jewish girl in 19th-century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.A Jewish girl in 19th-century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaChosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2000 (#01)
- Quotes
Nathan Quellen: Because what has to happen, is that every step you take has to be more unbelievable than the step before. E-Every step has to be - well it has to have an idea behind it, an idea t-that is so complex, it would take, 10 philosophers just to decipher it. Each step has to stretch like a rope - in the audiences mind. Until they can't bare it anymore and they wan to cry out, "Careful Esther you're going to break it".
- Alternate versionsPremiered at the Cannes Film Festival with a Running Time of 157 minutes (2 hours 37 minutes), which was then cut down by 15 minutes, against director Arnaud Desplechin's wishes, for theatrical release in France and elsewhere. The cut version essentially removes three scenes: a dream sequence of Esther, and two scenes fleshing out the Philippe Haygard character. The full uncut version was released on DVD in France and has screened in a few places such as the Lincoln Center in New York in 2019.
- ConnectionsReferenced in I'm Still Here (2010)
- SoundtracksSuite algérienne
[by] Camille Saint-Saëns
Performed by Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (as The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra)
Conducted by David Robertson
courtesy of Naïve Auvidis
Featured review
Sleepwalking, dead, boring, an endurance test for the audience - all have been said before so why am I adding to the comments I agree with? There is this:
"...it isn't before a man treats her badly that she realizes on stage, that she has talent and that she connects with the audience and emerges as a stronger human being."
This must be the reviewer's imagination talking. One can tell that this is the point of the movie that its makers are trying to make but they failed. Utterly. The only reason I kept it going in the machine was to see if they could redeem themselves. But they did not. It's a very big disappointment. There is no connection with the audience - either in the theater's audience inside the story itself or the movie audience watching this.
Too many close-ups, just way too many. I'd call it possibly a workshop on close-ups - if you're in the business. Otherwise, why waste money on this? It's just pointless.
"the film never reveals more than it needs to."
Honestly, it reveals nothing.
And yes, why was so much money thrown at this movie? I seriously wonder if the backers needed to lose money for tax purposes.
"...it isn't before a man treats her badly that she realizes on stage, that she has talent and that she connects with the audience and emerges as a stronger human being."
This must be the reviewer's imagination talking. One can tell that this is the point of the movie that its makers are trying to make but they failed. Utterly. The only reason I kept it going in the machine was to see if they could redeem themselves. But they did not. It's a very big disappointment. There is no connection with the audience - either in the theater's audience inside the story itself or the movie audience watching this.
Too many close-ups, just way too many. I'd call it possibly a workshop on close-ups - if you're in the business. Otherwise, why waste money on this? It's just pointless.
"the film never reveals more than it needs to."
Honestly, it reveals nothing.
And yes, why was so much money thrown at this movie? I seriously wonder if the backers needed to lose money for tax purposes.
- How long is Esther Kahn?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Эстер Кан
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $23,371
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,124
- Mar 3, 2002
- Gross worldwide
- $23,371
- Runtime2 hours 37 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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