Queen to Play (2009)

Must See Movie...

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This may be the best chess movie i have watched, and i watch any I can find.--The original title to this movie is Joueuse, the feminine form of "player", which say a lot about the movie--I think Joueuse and 'Queen to play' says it all, it has wheels within wheels regarding a woman's traditional role VS wanting more out of life without losing those things you originally love--The makers of this movie also manage to incorporate the primary attributes a great chess player has in their character, and they do this in such a way that blends them seamlessly into the movie. I know there are some chess movies that are 'based on true events', but if a viewer does the research, they will find that the actual facts are so far removed from the actual story, that it may as well be fictionI found this movie to have multiple layers to it - like real life

No need for my redundant review of this engaging French drama, driven (as the first-time director admits) by a desire to showcase the brilliant actress Sandrine Bonnaire, but the film's earliest scenes immediately had me wondering. Why didn't star Kevin Kline bring his better half Phoebe Cates with him to Corsica to play the enigmatic role of L'Américaine (portrayed instead by Jennifer Beals) in this film?Like many a fan from the '80s, I've long awaited Phoebe's return to the screen (apart from the indulgent "The Anniversary Party" featuring her whole family with Kline), and here would be a perfect opportunity: just as Charles Bronson's wife Jill Ireland, after her own successful career, later appeared in roles of varying sizes in nearly two dozen Bronson vehicles, Cates would have been a showstopper here, not that Beals is deficient in any way. It would have at least taken away the cryptic nature of Beals showing up at all -with Cates we'd know why.After this popped into my head during the first reel, I remembered that I had, by mere happenstance, had the pleasure of watching movies in theaters in NYC back in the '80s sitting next to both of these great beauties: at an Italian new filmmakers showcase held at the Quad Theater (Beals) and at a Times Square screening room (Cates). So I'm the Kevin Bacon, just like Kline, connecting the two, as trivial a fact as you will ever want to know or more likely not know about.

Queen to Play is a very heart warming movie with moments that will have you wondering what's going to happen next. It's about a middle aged woman named Helene, who works as a traveling maid and sets her sights higher than most. You can tell she is fed up with her current job and needs something new in her life. While she is cleaning a house on her normal schedule, she sees the housekeeper (Kroger) playing cheese with a woman. There both laughing and enjoying their time, which is the spark of Helene's new found obsession with chess. She goes out of her way to buy her husband an electronic chess board to see if he will start playing with her, but in response he hates it. Finally Helene gets the urge to ask Kroger to teach her while she is cleaning his house. At first he is very skeptical to teach a french woman how to play chess, since he is an American. Kroger gives in and teaches Helene everything she needs to know to become the best their ever lived. Helene ends up joining a chess competition where her fate for the future of chess playing lies. Director Caroline Bottaro does a great job on selecting the cast for this movie. She uses Helene played by Sandrine Bonnaire, in such a way it gives you the feeling that she keeps getting more and more obsessed with this game. Anywhere from moving bread crumbs at dinner for chess pieces to soap containers in the bathroom. Bonnaire gives off this real energy I feel like someone would have in real life if they were to discover something they had never seen or played before. Kroger played by Kevin Kline is also very well played out. Kevin Kline being on of my favorite older actors has done it yet once again in his very first French film. His French is also remarkable and very well understood. The both of these characters play so well off each other that I believe this is what makes the movie work. Caroline Bottaro is a very young director and still has a huge career ahead of her, I hope to see some good movies come from her soon.The cinematography in this movie really does a great job on capturing love, suspense, and happy moments with close ups and very low angled shots. This adds to the movie more so than just having simple straight on wide angle shots. Notice just simple techniques used like this throughout the movie that makes it just that much better. The music is also something much needed in some parts of the film, even though its just chess, this movie gives off a suspenseful vibe. I highly recommend this movie for chess fanatics, but also people who are into love, drama, and overall feel good movies.

What is it that makes a film jump off the screen and into the confines of your consciousness, implanting itself there so that years later, when you watch it again, you realize you have been thinking about it in the interim, with pleasure. It has insinuated itself into the fabric of your life and you carry its memory around with you.If film makers could work out how and why that happens, their investors would sleep more soundly at nightQueen to Play (Joueuse) is such a film.Obviously its success is anchored in Sandrine Bonnaire's performance, but there is a lot more to it than that, wonderful as it is.The writing. The direction. The cinematography. The other actors. Whatever...The scripting is unfailingly delightful. It presents the initial impetus to investigate the game of chess - a beautiful, young woman playing the game with her lover, as the driving force that compels the protagonist to visit her husband at work just to touch him, to extricate her silky nightgown, to acquire an electronic chess game under the guise of giving her husband a birthday gift. It then documents the discovery of meaning and satisfaction in exploiting whatever it is that makes a person excel at some aspect of life, and the coincidental growth of desire by her husband to share that life spirit - the initial impetus for all the chess playing that follows. I would say it is "nice" were it not for the devaluation of meaning of that word. Let's just call it an examination of compulsion, That's what the film is really all about. And Bonnaire's range of expressions and demeanors feed that camera with all the raw material it needs to hold us, the viewers, captive for the duration of the film. Compulsively so, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.Actually there is more to it than that. There is that exultation of the human spirit that comes from the process of self actualization. It is a wonderful experience just to observe it up close and personal by watching this film.Compulsiveness, Obsessiveness. They are not just the province of adolescent boys with computer games