A particularly joyless, and exceedingly dull, period coming-of-age tale.
Comment
11/26/01
Esther Kahn (2002)
50
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:12
Rotten:12
Average Rating:5.5/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins
Genre: Dramas
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... [More]
Starring: Summer Phoenix, Ian Holm, Fabrice Desplechin, Frances Barber
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Reviews for Esther Kahn
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12/30/06
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12/15/03
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11/24/01
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01/26/06
Top CriticI found it endlessly fascinating.
05/26/06
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
Beautiful and baffling.
01/16/03
Ranks among the best films ever made about the acting profession.
03/01/02
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
Confounding because it solemnly advances a daringly preposterous thesis. Acting cannot be acted.
02/26/02
A well-done film of a self-reflexive, philosophical nature.
02/26/02
A film worthy of comparison to Truffaut's best cinematic poems.
01/26/02
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
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
Like its title character, Esther Kahn is unusual but unfortunately also irritating.
04/12/02
It's a strange film, one that was hard for me to warm up to.
03/31/03
The problem is that rather than dramatizing this premise, Mr. Desplechin is content to state it.
02/28/02
Top CriticIt's a lot to ask people to sit still for two hours and change watching such a character, especially when rendered in as flat and impassive a manner as Phoenix's.
03/01/02
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