Esther

Esther, also released as The Bible: Esther and in Germany as Die Bibel – Esther, is a 1999 American-Italian-German television film directed by Raffaele Mertes. The roughly 90-minute drama adapts the biblical Book of Esther, one of the few scripture-based screen works built around a woman as its central figure.

The story follows Esther, played by Louise Lombard, a young Jewish woman who becomes queen to the Persian king Achashverosh (Thomas Kretschmann) after the dismissal of Queen Vashti, portrayed by Ornella Muti. Guided by her kinsman Mordechai (F. Murray Abraham), she risks her position at court to save her people from the extermination plot devised by the king's minister Haman, played by Jürgen Prochnow.

Shot in English, the production first appeared in 1999 and was broadcast in the United States on November 5, 2000, while in Italy it aired on Rai 1.