FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Review Queen to Play (Unrated) ***
Pawn becomes a queen in a tale of self discovery
Posted on Thursday, 10.22.09
BY RENE RODRIGUEZ
Attention all nerds and former high-school science-club members: Finally, there is a movie that shares your belief that chess should be a magnet for hot babes and sex. The French drama Queen to Play (Joueuse) is more eloquent and dignified — here, chess serves as a gateway for self-discovery — although the end result is still sex.
After Helene (Sandrine Bonnaire), a frustrated housewife and maid, spies on a couple exchanging suggestive glances and flirtatious gestures over a chessboard, she runs home and buys her distant husband Ange (Francis Renaud) the game for his birthday. But Ange, a boat-yard worker beset by money woes, isn’t interested. “I hope it didn’t cost too much,” he mutters before tossing the gift aside.
So Helene starts tinkering with the electronic chess set, teaching herself to play and becoming increasingly obsessed with the game.
Eventually, she summons the courage to ask one of her clients, the wealthy and hermetic Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline, speaking perfect French), if he will share his chess expertise.
Here is the full article.
Note that the anagram of “chess” is “sechs.” WGM Natalia Pogonina and her husband Peter Zhdanov are writing the book “Chess Kamasutra” to “show that it is possible to apply sex principles to chess, and vice versa.” http://bit.ly/JParc In either chess or sex, experienced players will be familiar with a number of different “mating positions.”