Last week I reviewed the chess movie, Queen of Katwe.. Roy Hovey commented that he liked another chess movie, Queen to Play (2011), a French movie starring Kevin Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire. I hadn’t seen (or heard of) Queen to Play so I tracked down a copy and watched it. Sandrine Bonnaire plays a cleaning lady whose life is mundane. One day, she watches one of the guests at the hotel where she works play chess with her lover. Suddenly, Bonnaire finds herself obsessed with chess. Bonnaire also cleans the house of a reclusive scholar played by Kevin Kline. Kline is grumpy and distant. Bonnaire manages to convince Kevin Kline into playing chess with her. And, before too long, Bonnaire is beating Kevin Kline at chess. There’s the inevitable Chess Tournament. And, predictable as the plot is, Sandrine Bonnaire manages to liven up every scene she’s in. Well worth a look! GRADE: B+
George, considering I’m obsessed with chess as well, I will try and watch both the films. It’s such a beautiful and intelligent game. My dad taught me chess when I was in first standard (grade). Now I mostly play with the computer or online opponents who often lack sportsmanship.
Prashant, I’m sure you would enjoy both QUEEN OF KATWE and QUEEN TO PLAY. The love of chess comes through in both films.
This sounds good.
Patti, I enjoyed Sandrine Bonnaire’s performance. I’ll watch more movies with Bonnaire in them! Kevin Kline delivers a very subdued performance for him.
Like Prashant, I learned to play chess at an early age. I used to follow the chess games in the NY Times, but those days are gone. Jackie is a big Kevin Kline fan so will look out for this one.
Jeff, Jackie will find Kevin Kline in a very different mode in QUEEN IN PLAY.
Anybody who played Richard III (NY! – did ya see it?) will always be a hero to me, and I still think “Sophie’s Choice” is one of the best movies ever, and best first movie performances ever (for Kline). Loved the quaint “Dave,” and also of course “A Fish Called Wanda.” Great body of Bard work though.
I used to play, and have a couple of nice sets, but do’t play these days. I liked SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER quite a lot, and it has an excellent score.
Rick, I have SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISHER on Blu-ray somewhere. I’ll have to find it. I remember the soundtrack was great!
I played the computer and was proud of myself for winning almost every game, until I found out it was set for the least difficult skill level!
Bob, I played STAR WARS chess on the computer for awhile. The Force was NOT with me!
“It’s a giant chess world. A great, huge game of chess is being played all over the world. Oh how I wish I was one of the players.” Alice, from “Through the Looking Glass,” and the opening quote for my 2nd short story about Dashiell Hammett’s demise and a female Russian chess champion. Which, of course, has nothing to do with anything here, but I must say I enjoyed the banter/these comments, and am glad you liked the film George. Computers were fun to play in the old days, when I beat most, by for years now, they are of course powerful and they snuff me out even at the “average club player” setting.
Roy, thanks for the heads up on QUEEN TO PLAY. I enjoyed it a lot!