Esther Kahn

Esther Kahn (Summer Phoenix), is born to Jewish immigrant parents (Laszlo Szabo, Frances Barber) who both work in the rag trade and live in the East End of 19th century London. Growing up, Esther discovers theatre and acting, and the experiences she has onstage slowly transform her.

Esther Kahn is the first English-language film by the French director Arnaud Desplechin. It premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival but was not distributed to the United States for two years until it played in New York City in 2002. Deplechin adapted the screenplay with regular collaborator Emmanuel Bourdieu from a short story by Arthur Symons of the same name from his book Spiritual Adventures. It stars Summer Phoenix as Esther and Ian Holm as her friend and teacher, Nathan Quellen.

A Jewish girl in 19th century London dreams of becoming a stage actress.