How
does one become an accomplished actor or actress? What are
the appropriate life experiences and coaching secrets? Esther
Kahn, directed and written by Arnaud Desplechin, provides
answers to both questions, at least for one Jewish tenement
girl in London at the end of the nineteenth century, in a
film 145 minutes in length. The story begins with Esther as
a child, bored with her task as a seamstress in the family
sweatshop; as a result, she sews too slowly to help the family.
Indeed, she is so emotional about the way in which her identity
is stifled that she seeks to be phlegmatic, that is, without
emotion. One day as a young woman (played by Summer Phoenix)
she observes a stage play and is enthralled; finally, she
has found something exciting in life, so she aspires to be
an actress. However, a phlegmatic personality is hardly likely
to impress an audience, so she has to learn how to unleash
her emotions on stage. At one point Nathan Quellen (played
by Ian Holm) takes her under his wing, instructing her on
how to act, though Esther insists on paying him so that she
will not be obligated to reciprocate in some undesired manner.
Soon, she meets Philip (played by Fabrice Desplechin), a playwright
who seduces her, but she hides her emotional attraction to
him until he shows off his Italian mistress (played by Emmanuelle
Devos). Esther then becomes despondent and declares that she
is unable to go on stage, especially when he appears at a
performance of Hedda Gabler accompanied by his mistress.
However, encouraged by fellow members of the cast and the
play's director, she performs anyway, and the emotional cauldron
is channeled into the most spirited acting performance of
her career. She has become a legend. MH
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