Click to read the article
Comment
12/30/06
Esther Kahn (2002)
48 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 11 Rotten:12 Average Rating: 5.4/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Synopsis: Summer Phoenix plays a young woman experiencing a crushing and belated coming of age in the Arnaud Desplechin's psychological period film, ESTHER KAHN. Phoenix is devastatingly opaque as Esther--a young girl raised among the poor Jewish tailors of London's East End. Her cramped and... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Summer Phoenix, Ian Holm, Fabrice Desplechin, Frances Barber, Laszlo Szabo
Reviews
Top CriticClick to read the article
01/26/06
Top CriticClick to read the article
12/15/03
A particularly joyless, and exceedingly dull, period coming-of-age tale.
11/26/01
Top CriticClick to read the article
11/24/01
Top CriticClick to read the article
05/26/06
Click to read the article
07/21/05
Top Critic
Top Critic
Attempting to determine whether the offstage trauma that she’s undergoing is genuine or an extreme form of method acting becomes the film’s dramatic crux, and it’s more than enough to hold the viewer’s attention
01/11/03
The biggest problem I have (other than the very sluggish pace) is we never really see her Esther blossom as an actress, even though her talent is supposed to be growing.
12/11/02
An ambitious, serious film that manages to do virtually everything wrong; sitting through it is something akin to an act of cinematic penance.
06/30/02
The narrator and the other characters try to convince us that acting transfigures Esther, but she's never seen speaking on stage; one feels cheated, and Esther seems to remain an unchanged dullard.
05/30/02
Like its title character, Esther Kahn is unusual but unfortunately also irritating.
04/12/02
What makes Esther Kahn so demanding is that it progresses in such a low-key manner that it risks monotony. But it's worth the concentration.
04/12/02
Top Critic
if you are an actor who can relate to the search for inner peace by dramatically depicting the lives of others onstage, then Esther's story is a compelling quest for truth.
04/05/02
Ms. Phoenix is completely lacking in charm and charisma, and is unable to project either Esther’s initial anomie or her eventual awakening.
03/13/02
IGN RSS Feeds