Esther (1986 film)

Esther (Hebrew: אסתר) is a 97-minute 1986 Austrian-British-Dutch-Israeli Hebrew-language independent underground dramatic historical experimental art film directed by Amos Gitai, his directorial debut. The film tells the story of Esther from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Esther and stars Simone Benyamini, Zare Vartanian, Mohammad Bakri and Juliano Mer-Khamis.

For other uses, see Esther (disambiguation).

Esther
DVD cover art
Directed byAmos Gitai
Written by
  • Amos Gitai
  • Stephan Levine
Starring
Cinematography
Production
companies
Distributed byFacets Multi-Media
Release date
  • 1986 (1986)
Running time
97 minutes
Countries
  • Austria
  • United Kingdom
  • Netherlands
  • Israel
LanguageHebrew

Synopsis

When King Ahasuerus (Zare Vartanian) of Persia drives out of his court Queen Vashti for refusing to show up before him, a frantic search for young virgins is unleashed throughout the kingdom, extending from India to Ethiopia. Esther, an orphan who was raised by her Jewish uncle, Mordecai (Mohammad Bakri), has entered the King's harem, having chosen her as his wife without knowing she was Jewish. At court, she has thwarted an attack against the King thanks to information provided by her uncle. For the service rendered, Esther and Mordecai have become the only free court characters not to prostrate themselves in front of anyone. However, when Mordecai refuses to bow to Minister Haman (Juliano Mer-Khamis), the latter commands the death of all of the Jews of the kingdom under the seal of the King. This is discovered by Esther and Mordecai, who devise a plan to save their people. Mordecai acts in advance against Haman ordering the vengeful extermination of all of those who want the death of the Jews.[1][2][3]

Cast
The shooting of the film

Production

The film marked the directorial debut of Amos Gitai,[4] who also wrote the screenplay.[5] It was shot by Henri Alekan and Nurith Aviv (with Ilan Yagoda assisting), and cast by Levia Hon.

Developed at Herzliya Studios and financed by Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland and Film4 Productions, the film was distributed by Facets Multi-Media.

Release

The film was screened at the May 1986 Cannes Film Festival during the International Critics's Week, at the October 1986 Torino Film Festival where it also won several awards, and at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival on 21 February 1992. The film was released in Israel, where it premiered at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, together with Berlin-Jerusalem (1989) as part of a DVD boxset in 2005.[6]

Critical response

Stephen Holden of The New York Times opined that "[t]hough not especially entertaining, it is quite handsome and bristling with ideas."[4] In Israel, however, some reviewers were more negative. Daniel Warth of Ha'ir, while noticing similarities to the works of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bertolt Brecht, and Miklós Jancsó, stated that the film "is an artistic pretension which remains nothing but an aesthical drill with unsophisticated political declarations."[7]

References
Citations in article
  1. Sources:
  2. Sources:
    • Schenkar, Guilhad Emilio (12 August 2014). חי בסרט – עמוס גיתאי [Living in Films – Amos Gitai] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education’s Israeli Educational Television. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
    • Ginsberg, Prof. Dr. Terri; Lippard, Prof. Dr. Chris (March 2010). Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema. Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts, Volume 36, Series Editor: Arthur Jon Woronoff. Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Ontario, and Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield’s The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 137. ISBN 9780810873643. OCLC 718533076. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
    • Schweitzer, Dr. Ariel. אסתר, או הפורים־שפיל של עמוס גיתאי [Esther, or the Pourim-Shpil of Amos Gitai]. Zmanim: A Historical Quarterly, Volume 75 (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo, Jerusalem, and Ra’anana: The Zvi Yavetz School of Historical Studies, The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Tel Aviv University, The Historical Society of Israel’s Zalman Shazar Center, and The Department of History, Philosophy, and Judaic Studies, Open University of Israel. Summer 2001. pp. 76–82. JSTOR 23437280.
  3. Sources:
  4. Holden, Stephen (19 May 1989). "Reviews/Film; The Purim Story, With Modern Overtones". The New York Times. p. 16. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  5. Clanton Jr., Dan W. (2009). Daring, Disreputable and Devout: Interpreting the Hebrew Bible's Women in Art and Music. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-5670-2747-4. Retrieved 10 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  6. Gitai, Prof. Dr. Amos (2005). ברלין ירושלים [Berlin-Jerusalem] (DVD) (in Hebrew). Ramat HaSharon: NMC Music’s Globus United King Films. OCLC 920667873. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  7. Warth, Daniel (9 July 1986). תרגיל אסתטי [An Aesthetical Drill] (PDF). Ha'ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Haaretz Group's Schocken Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2018 – via idea.cimema.co.il.
Sources used

Further reading
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