Esau (film)

Esau
Esau
Directed by	Pavel Lungin
Screenplay by	Pavel Lungin; Evgeny Ruman
Based on	Esau; by Meir Shalev
Produced by	Serafima Kokhanovskaia; Pavel Lungin; Haim Mecklberg; Alexander Turkot; Estee Yacov-Mecklberg;
Starring	Harvey Keitel Shira Haas
Cinematography	Fred Kelemen
Edited by	Tim Pavelko
Music by	Katia Tchemberdji
Production; company	2-Team Productions
Release date	November 4, 2019 (HKJFF);
Running time	110 minutes
Countries	Russia; Israel; United Kingdom
Languages	English; Russian

Esau is a 2019 Russian-Israeli-British drama film directed by Pavel Lungin and starring Harvey Keitel and Shira Haas. It is based on Meir Shalev's novel of the same name.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

This is Longin's first English-language film. However, it is not the first film in which Longin filmed and worked with Israeli actors; before it, he made the film "The Winner" and also directed the Russian adaptation Rodina of the series Prisoners of War.

The film tells the story of a 40-year-old writer who returns to his family home where he was raised, and he escaped after half a lifetime to face his brother, who stayed instead. After inheriting their family bakery and marrying the woman they both loved.

The film premiered at the 2019 Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival.^[5]

Plot

As a teenager, Asu fled to America. He denies his past but never established new roots. He writes successful books about baking bread, but he never became a true writer. He has no wife, no children, and his large house is empty. A late-night phone call changes his life. He hears a familiar female voice asking for his help. Twenty years later, he returns home. The head of the family was his brother Yaakov, who inherited their father’s bakery, became a father of children, and is now the husband of the woman they both once dreamed of.