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Queen to Play

Joueuse (Queen to Play)

2009

Caroline Bottaro

Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Valerie Lagrange, Francis Renaud ...

6.5

343

Drama In a small Corsican village, Hélène leads an uneventful but contented life. In her early forties, she is happily married, has a teenage daughter and works as a chambermaid in a hotel. One day, she sees a couple playing chess in a hotel room and becomes fascinated by the game. With the help of Monsieur Kröger, a strange old man, Hélène not only learns the rules of the game but soon becomes a talented player. But whilst this intellectual ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"What I enjoyed was the way the film summons up the pure obsessive passion that chess stirs in some people (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"Though Kline handles his role expertly, 'Queen to Play' succeeds as well as it does because of Bonnaire. An actress of exceptional presence with a magical smile and the ability to look both beautiful and ordinary"	POS
United States	The Hollywood Reporter	"While 'Queen to Play' boasts an admirable dramatic subtlety and several strong performances, its overly familiar ideas and lugubrious pacing (...) will make it a tough sit even for dedicated art house audiences."	NEU
United States	Stephen Holden The New York Times	"Slight but captivating (...) In small but significant ways, 'Queen to Play' defies expectations"	POS
United States	Noel Murray AV Club	"Though the premise is original, the trajectory of the plot feels pretty second-hand (...) [It] has a winning heroine (...) Too bad the rest of the movie is so common."	NEU

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