Esther (1999 film)

Esther, also known as The Bible Esther, is a 1999 AmericanItalianGerman television film directed by Raffaele Mertes and starring Louise Lombard as Queen Esther, F. Murray Abraham as Mordechai, Jrgen Prochnow as Haman, Thomas Kretschmann as King Achashverosh and Ornella Muti as Vashti.

Hadassah Louise Lombard, a beautiful Jewish girl, lives with her cousin and legal guardian Mordechai F. Murray Abraham in Shushan, the capital of Persia. After King Achashverosh Thomas Kretschmann deposes Queen Vashti Ornella Muti of her throne, because of her refusal to attend a feast in her royal crown , to show her beauty, and for ridiculing him and his officers. He then decrees an order to choose a new queen. Guards then go to the surrounding places of the castle and capture virgins. Mordechai attempts to hide Hadassah but she is captured by the guards. The guards allow her to say farewell to her kinsmen.at the insistence of her cousin Mordechai, Hadassah changes her name to Esther, meaning hidden, he also tells her to forget her name, but not to forget that she was a Jew. They are taken to the first harem, where they are placed and sorted under the custody of Chagai Phil Davies, a royal eunuch in charge of the first harem , Esther finds a girl crying and comforts her. Chagai asks which nationality Esther is from ,her answer frustrates him and he sends her to be placed. after a length of time , after a lesson in royal etiquette , while everyone is busy preparing herself for the king, one of the girls tells Esther that when it is their time to go to the king they may ask for anything they want to take with them. Esther asks her new maidservant, Mimouna Natasha Williamsabout what to expect from the king , and asks how it feels to make love to a man and Mimouna replies that it depends on the man. a few nights later , it is time for Esther to present herself to the king , mordechai gives some money to a eunuch , and we are shown how they prepare the royal bed chamber for the event. that night, at esthers first meeting with the king , achashverosh tests Esther about what she has learnt from the harem and life, then asks her name and unveils her. A rose falls. The king asks her if she picked it for the king and she answers no. The king then tells her she is different

Source: Wikipedia