The Luzhin Defence

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: A marvelous screen adaptation of Nabokov's novel, the story has a bit of everything: love and romance, deception and betrayal, suspense, violence, obsession and tragedy, all set within the backdrop of a world champion chess tournament and beautifully balanced flashbacks. This is a sensitively directed film with an excellent cast, as well as, a marvelous film score by composer Alexandre Desplat that serves only to enhance the plot and characters.

Since the film is loosely based on the novel, I just had to go out and get a copy of Nabokov's book to read the source.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but confusing story of a mentally ill chess genius
Review: Adapted from a novella by Vladimir Nabokov, this 2000 film is about the world of chess, genius, mental illness and romance. Set in the early 1920s in Italy, it stars John Turturro, cast as Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, an unkempt, awkward and disturbed chess master who is about to compete in a world chess tournament in a upscale resort. Emily Watson is cast as Natalia, a wealthy socialite who is bored with her mother's matchmaking and is, instead, attracted to the lonely and weird chess genius.

We see flashbacks about Luzhin's life which tries to explain his madness. The relationship between the two lead characters deepen. The tournament begins. We're all rooting for Luzhin. And then, his former chess mentor, played by Stuart Wilson, appears out of the blue. Wilson wants to destroy his former protégé and plots with Luzhin's opponent to do this. I was confused by this character because I didn't think the background had set him up enough.

It all plays out with a sense of drama. The story was intriguing and held my interest. And, at the conclusion, Emily Watson is called upon to do something courageous. But in spite of excellent acting, fine lush settings and good direction by Marleen Gorris, the whole film just didn't jell for me. It was a good try, but there were too many parts that left me confused and it didn't add up to compelling drama. I therefore find it difficult to give this film more than a modest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant but confusing story of a mentally ill chess genius
Review: Adapted from a novella by Vladimir Nabokov, this 2000 film is about the world of chess, genius, mental illness and romance. Set in the early 1920s in Italy, it stars John Turturro, cast as Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, an unkempt, awkward and disturbed chess master who is about to compete in a world chess tournament in a upscale resort. Emily Watson is cast as Natalia, a wealthy socialite who is bored with her mother's matchmaking and is, instead, attracted to the lonely and weird chess genius.

We see flashbacks about Luzhin's life which tries to explain his madness. The relationship between the two lead characters deepen. The tournament begins. We're all rooting for Luzhin. And then, his former chess mentor, played by Stuart Wilson, appears out of the blue. Wilson wants to destroy his former protégé and plots with Luzhin's opponent to do this. I was confused by this character because I didn't think the background had set him up enough.

It all plays out with a sense of drama. The story was intriguing and held my interest. And, at the conclusion, Emily Watson is called upon to do something courageous. But in spite of excellent acting, fine lush settings and good direction by Marleen Gorris, the whole film just didn't jell for me. It was a good try, but there were too many parts that left me confused and it didn't add up to compelling drama. I therefore find it difficult to give this film more than a modest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Seeing this isn't indefensible, but . . .
Review: As with most cinematic adaptations of books, the makers of "The Luzhin Defense" haven't attempted to capture the qualities that made Nabokov's source novel great. Instead of aping the novelist's clinical detachment, they've made this story of a romance between an eccentric chess genius and a wealthy woman a passionate--albeit subdued--one. John Turturro and Emily Watson give typically mature, intelligent, interesting performances; while it's nice to see two people who seem drawn together by their minds as well as their hearts, the actors are both about a decade older than the apparent age of their characters. Their quirky, tragic affair plays out against lovely Merchant-Ivory-like European backgrounds, interrupted by a Machiavellian villain and occasional flashbacks to the chess master's darker Russian childhood. These latter scenes are slightly marred by the inclusion of the most effete child actor since the one who played the very young Hamlet in Kenneth Branagh's version of the Shakespeare play, and chess-knowledgeable viewers will be annoyed by the simplified depictions of the game throughout the film, but there are worse ways to spend one's money than on a matinee ticket to "The Luzhin Defense."

Rating:
Summary: THE MADNESS OF OBSESSION - THE REDEMPTION OF LOVE
Review: Confession time up front: I'm a Turturro fan. This intense, versatile actor has won me several times, most notably with "Barton Fink" (1991) and "Quiz Show" (1994). "The Luzhin Defence" simply corroborates past good judgment.

Inspired by Vladlimir Nabokov's 1930s novel "The Defense," this is the story of Alexandre Luzhin (Turturro), an eccentric, preoccupied chess genius whose miserable childhood has left him bereft of what we might think of as normal relational skills. So engrossed is he in the game that he is incapable of carrying on a conversation or tending to life's everyday tasks.

As a child of privilege in early 20th century St. Petersburg (we learn in flashbacks) he was gifted with a chess set by a beautiful aunt who was having a not very hidden affair with his father. To say that the child takes to the game is an understatement - he buries himself in it and soon becomes known as a child prodigy.

After the death of his mother, Luzhin's father easily hands him over to Valentinov, a school master (Stuart Wilson) who promises to nurture the boy and tutor him in the ways of the chess world. Instead, the reptilian Valentinov deserts Luzhin and pops into his life again some years later when as an adult Luzhin is participating in a major chess tournament held at a luxurious resort on Italy's Lake Como. While villains can be difficult to portray, it seemed that at any moment Valentinov would mumble "heh, heh, heh," and twirl his moustache. His evil doings were as predictable as his take on the role.

Nonetheless, it is at this tournament that Luzhin sets eyes on the luscious Russian expatriate Natalia Katkov (Emily Watson). He is smitten, and so is she. The maneuvering of her social climbing mother to pair Natalia with a handsome young French count (Christopher Thompson) come to naught. While some may wonder what Natalia sees in the bumbling, outre Luzhin, suspend rationales and enjoy their blossoming relationship as she brings love into his life for the first time. Watson is luminous in this role, and Turturro gives a star turn as the tortured virtuoso. Fabio Sartor is perfection as Luzhin's opponent for the chess championship.

With lush scenery and elegant period costuming the film, as directed by Marleen Gorris, offers thoughtful insight into the madness of obsession and the redemptive power of love.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful movie adaptation of a heart-rending story
Review: Having read Vladimir Nabokov's novel "The Defence", on which this film is based, many years ago, I was fascinated to see how the director would rise to a very challenging task. I was not disappointed: although the story is interpreted in a noticeably different way, it becomes a moving and remarkably unsentimental study of a strange, uniquely talented man and the young woman who suddenly and inexplicably falls in love with him.

There are certain technical constraints. In the novel, Nabokov spends a lot of time depicting Luzhin's internal states of mind. The chess-related flights of fantasy have mostly been eliminated, but John Turturro - who gives a magnificent performance throughout - successfully conveys Luzhin's bumbling, inconsequential attempts to comply with the social requirements of the situations he encounters. Very occasionally, one of the actors reminds one of a historic chess player - at times Turturro, unshaven and distracted, has overtones of Tal, and Fabio Sartor's suave Turati combines Capablanca's elegance with flashes of Kasparov's self-assurance.

The chess specifics are, sadly, not very accurate. Even in the 1930s, the world championship was never decided by a single game played between the winners of two sections of a tournament! Real grandmasters do not usually slam their clocks hard enough to break them, nor are they often surprised by snap checkmates in the endgame (although it has happened). But these compromises can be excused as artistic license, with the aim of making the story more exciting for non-players.

Everything else is beautifully done - the period sets, clothes and manners, the interplay of sporting dedication with business ambition and even romance, burgeoning suddenly in the most unexpected place and time. I would have been amazed to be told that a rendering of "The Defence" would feature sex scenes, but they are perfectly woven into the logic of the story. There is a certain vagueness, too, that mirrors real life - at least as seen by Nabokov. Natalia's mother, who seems dead set against her beloved daughter having anything to do with "that" (as she calls Luzhin after their first meeting), rallies round in time for the wedding. And as for Valentinov, Luzhin's former manager who unceremoniously dumped him when he went through a bad patch, what does he really want now?

Like so many of Nabokov's tales, "The Luzhin Defence" hovers ambiguously on the border between everyday reality and fantasy. If you accept it on its own terms, though, it is an absorbing experience.

Rating:
Summary: Chess fans will love this!
Review: I am an obsessive chess player myself, and I can watch this movie over and over, and find something new everytime. I really enjoy some of the moments in the movie such as when Luzhin is describing one of his games to his father in law, and he says "I played a *quiet* move". I love to say this phrase when describing a game that I played to one of my fellow chess playing .... It is so funny to me how the father in law barely understands how the pieces move, and Luzhin is describing some incredibly complex position, that probably only a fellow grandmaster could understand. I enjoy how Luzhin is not terribly likeable as a babbling, chain smoking, neurotic, one trick pony, but you can still understand why this woman loves him. I think that the final chess position on the board at the end is very clever, and most chess fans would appreciate the beauty of it. I also enjoyed the giant chess board that was near the hotel, and how the players were slamming their clocks, similiar to in Searching for Bobby Fischer. There are so many little things that a chess player will love in this movie! You can watch it again and again! If you didn't like it the first time, watch it again! You might need some time for the genius to soak in!

Rating:
Summary: Chess fans will love this!
Review: I am an obsessive chess player myself, and I can watch this movie over and over, and find something new everytime. I really enjoy some of the moments in the movie such as when Luzhin is describing one of his games to his father in law, and he says "I played a *quiet* move". I love to say this phrase when describing a game that I played to one of my fellow chess playing .... It is so funny to me how the father in law barely understands how the pieces move, and Luzhin is describing some incredibly complex position, that probably only a fellow grandmaster could understand. I enjoy how Luzhin is not terribly likeable as a babbling, chain smoking, neurotic, one trick pony, but you can still understand why this woman loves him. I think that the final chess position on the board at the end is very clever, and most chess fans would appreciate the beauty of it. I also enjoyed the giant chess board that was near the hotel, and how the players were slamming their clocks, similiar to in Searching for Bobby Fischer. There are so many little things that a chess player will love in this movie! You can watch it again and again! If you didn't like it the first time, watch it again! You might need some time for the genius to soak in!

Rating:
Summary: Opening Move for Pushkin¿s Duel
Review: I have not read the book upon which this movie is based, so I had no expectations that needed to be met or dashed. Knowledge of chess is not required to enjoy this film, when explanations enhance a scene they are provided. John Turturro and Emily Watson are wonderful and the setting at Lake Como is gorgeous. The title, "The Luzhin Defence", is applicable not only to an endgame strategy devised, but also represents what the character of Luzhin employs every day of his life to survive.

Chess is a fabulously complex game that no player has ever claimed to have mastered. Brilliant champions like Kasparov explain their endless fascination with the game is precisely because it is a challenge that can never be met with finality. If you pick up any basic chess book, the possible directions that are available to the two players, especially at the game's start are measured exponentially. Great players must be able to predict a variety of futures as the result of any given move they or their opponent may choose. This is demonstrated with a bit of sleight of hand of the director during one match in the film to great effect.

Luzhin is a man who is shaped both by his genius and the dysfunctional family he is the product of. Chess simultaneously defines his life, offers him shelter from those around him, and leads him to an addiction to the game that starts as eccentric and progresses to destructive. This is not a story of yet another person of extraordinary talent who also is socially dysfunctional because of his genius. His childhood and his early life are what he must form a defence against. Chess becomes a scapegoat for all the problems he sees around him as a youth. He does not have talent; rather he sees the harm he appears to inflict by constantly defeating his father at the game. His mentor and coach become no more than the means by which he is exploited.

His relationship with Emily Watson's character is appropriate as she too is considered wildly unconventional by the standards of her parents, although primarily by her mother. She is also the target of constant criticism, her life a sequence of interferences by her mother, an overbearing anti-Semitic nuisance of a person.

The close of the film initially left me disappointed. However after letting a day pass it actually becomes poignant if you are willing to stretch a bit for it. Director Marleen Gorris does s very good job of portraying the story on the screen. How much justice she does the book, as I mentioned I can not say.

Rating:
Summary: The Luzhin Defence
Review: I was wonderfully surprised by this brilliant cinematic masterpiece. Though I shouldn't have been, given the integrity and expertise of the actors and director. The shot work, cinematography, screenplay and editing are all masterful, poetic. The performances given by Turturro and Watson are seamless and profound. Marleen Gorris has the vision of a truly great director, exemplified also by her other movies, all of which show her knowledge of the things that can happen between and within people. The movie as a whole has so many layers of depth, and is so true to the tone of Nabakov's novel that it stands as an accomplishment even apart from the book. For anyone who plays chess, loves Russian novels or would like to see a romance that REALLY explores love at its most moving and true, this is a movie you HAVE to see.