The Luzhin Defence (2000)

Wonderful character development!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Absolutely the worst movie.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is again a movie about a very gifted person who has an obsessive relationship to his profession. Though he's admired by many for his great talent he's mainly driven by his own expectations about himself. Not even his love to a woman that is not only fascinated by his talent but also about his personality were able to save him from being eaten up and finally destroyed by his possession.John Turturrow gives us one of his most outstanding acting performances of his career and so the rest of the cast does. It's a very beautiful but also sad movie about a sensitive, eccentric, tormented character suffering from the burden of his own perfectionism.It is a love story indeed - about the love to a woman but first of all about his love to his favorite game.Of course also this movie can't match the original book. And again I think its for the same reasons:The movie would have gotten way to long.Since movies are a way more passive form of entertainment than reading a book (were you have to use way more of your own imagination) they are expected to be dramatic and entertaining. Too much of the book's details would have made the movie to exhausting to watch.But all this doesn't make this a "bad movie" at all. It's a fascinating movie with an interesting story and great actors - way more delicious than today's usual movie fast food.

Based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel (loosely) tells the story of a master chess player Luzhin. The film is shot in an old fashioned but visually appealing way. Thus, it looks polished. However, it lacks the rawness of the book. There have been a couple of significant changes when compared to the book such as the element of ambiguity and mystery which is mostly absent in the film. 'The Luzhin Defence' is also quite simplistic (and a tad melodramatic) as it attempts to provide a solution for everything. Perhaps the intention was to make it lighter in order for it to appeal to a wider audience who like happy endings. But if that's the case, why not change it completely, at least give the main characters different names in order to not mislead the viewers into thinking they're watching something similar to the book it's supposedly based on?The highlight of 'The Luzhin Defence' are the lead pair's performances. John Torturro and Emily Watson are spellbinding in their roles. Watson, in a wonderfully reserved performance completely convinces the viewer why she would fall for Luzhin. Torturro delivers yet another nuanced performance of a complex man. Geraldine James also does a good job. Stuart Wilson's Valentinov is one dimensional (pretty much your usual antagonist). Alexander Hunting does a fine job as the young Luzhin but he bears no resemblance to Torturro.Adapting a book into a film isn't an easy task and there is bound to be some criticism if a big book is to be fitted into a 90 minute film. However, perhaps the most important thing is to capture the same essence and that's where Marleen Gorris and Peter Berry fail. Nabokov certainly wouldn't have been pleased with this adaptation.

A brilliant chess player attends a tournament and falls in love with a woman he meets there. On itself this would be a pretty bad angle on a story. So, there is more. There is the fact that the chess player is also completely alienated from the world because of his brilliance at the game and the fact there is some history haunting the player.This film steps back and forth from romantic frivolity to tournament tension to historic events that shaped the chess player and works quite nicely. It's easy to grow attached to the two main characters and easy to believe they might hit it off together like the way they do in this film. The added effect of the tournament is very good too and creates a nice tension setting.I have no idea of the strength of the chess players as I don't play the game myself but it looks nice and believable. All in all, most of the film goes down very easily. It is also forgotten again very easily though. So it's nice to watch but nothing more than that.7 out of 10 chess players caught between a rook and a hard place

This is part of the game or sport genre that has enjoyed commercial success over the years. Only a few eccentricities manage to differentiate this from its sibling films, yet you feel that this could have been a lot more. Especially since its an adaptation of Nabokov. But it is simple melodrama. Predictable and sentimental. It could have had edge, seeing that it is about an obsession that leads to self-destruction. But it plays it safe and unintelligent.One interesting snippet, towards the end, was when Luzhin reads a letter from Valentino attempting to manipulate him into finishing the event. Luzhin burns the letter but the voice-over continues to play. You can see that he is being consumed by his own obsession, just as the letter is being consumed by the flames. The symbolism of Luzhin's king and queen chess pieces is rather heavy handed. The opening image: the light at the end of the tunnel, was an obvious presentiment of Luzhin's death.