Esther Kahn is from a Jewish family, recently immigrated to London. The family is organised as a small factory - a sweatshop. One sews the sleeves, another the buttonholes, and the weak link in this family enterprise is Esther. She is too slow. In the evenings, when the family can afford to rest and chat, Esther remains silent. It seems to her that everyone pretends to be happy, to enjoy each others company, to love each other. For her, the only place where people seem a little true, is the theatre. Here she has an opinion. She meets a playwright, whom she takes as her lover, but he leaves her on the eve of an important opening. For the first time she enters the ordinary stream of life and feels every nerve in her body burning. She is struck by life.

UK/FRANCE

Cast: Summer Phoenix, Ian Holm

Director: Arnaud Desplechin
Writer: Emmanuel Bourdieu, Arnaud Desplechin
Director of Photography: Eric Gautier
Editor: Martine Giordano, Hervé de Luze
Production Designer: Jon Henson
Costume Designer: Nathalie Duerinckx