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05/13/05
Esther Kahn (2002)
50
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:12
Rotten:12
Average Rating:5.5/10
Theatrical Release:Mar 1, 2002 Limited
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
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Reviews for Esther Kahn
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
No review available.
06/18/05
A film worthy of comparison to Truffaut's best cinematic poems.
01/26/02
Confounding because it solemnly advances a daringly preposterous thesis. Acting cannot be acted.
02/26/02
Top CriticI found it endlessly fascinating.
05/26/06
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
A well-done film of a self-reflexive, philosophical nature.
02/26/02
Ranks among the best films ever made about the acting profession.
03/01/02
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 CriticBeautiful and baffling.
01/16/03
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12/30/06
The good stuff gets suffocated under the self-indulgent pace and needless length.
05/12/01
The problem is that rather than dramatizing this premise, Mr. Desplechin is content to state it.
02/28/02
Top CriticMs. 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
Top CriticA particularly joyless, and exceedingly dull, period coming-of-age tale.
11/26/01
It's a strange film, one that was hard for me to warm up to.
03/31/03
Like its title character, Esther Kahn is unusual but unfortunately also irritating.
04/12/02
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
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