A Disappointing Continuation

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Queen to Play" is a sweet, small, powerful film about a cleaning woman's discovery of passion and dignity through chess. Sandrine Bonnaire plays Helene, a 40 something cleaning woman on the tourist island of Corsica. She's got a nice, handsome, construction worker husband, a snotty teenage daughter struggling through growing pains, an imperious boss at a resort hotel, and a quiet, reasonable, low-rent life. One day Helene picks up the game of chess, and everything changes. Chess engages her mind and passion. For the sake of learning more about the game, she does things she never would have done, otherwise. She asks a man she cleans for, Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline) to play with her. The grouchy older man rebuffs her at first, but she offers to clean for free, and he accepts. "Do you always look at people as if your life depended on their answer to your question?" Dr. Kroger asks her. In fact Helene's life does depend on her newfound passion for chess. Helene demands time to learn about the game. She is distracted in conversations were before she might have listened more sympathetically or joined in petty, local gossip. She schedules hours alone with a man. She answers back to demanding customers at the resort. She snaps at her family, "Would it kill you to cook your own dinner for one night?" Just who does Helene think she is? She is, after all, only a cleaning woman, the chess club president reminds her. His arrogance will not serve him well when he butts up against Helene. "Queen to Play" is a small film. The script is spare. The film is lovely but not spectacular. Sandrine Bonnaire's great beauty and her performance are its best special effect. I wish there had been a bit more depth and development. But what is here is really powerful. We've gotten so used, in the US, to thinking of injustice and prejudice as being, primarily, about black versus white. "Queen to Play" shows how being a cleaning woman is itself a handicap in society, how expectations can squash a human being, and the price people pay for even the most simple gesture of coloring outside the lines of others' expectations. I admire and like Helene as I do few other film heroines. And I'd love to see Bonnaire play a saint someday. Her face is made for it.

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.

I largely agree with what others have said here. But there is one flaw that nobody seems to have noticed: not one game of chess in this movie ends with a draw. As everybody with some knowledge of the game is aware of, draws are the rule among advanced players of chess, so a tournament such as the one shown in the movie that works by elimination (quarterfinals, semifinals, final), with only one game between a pair of contestants, is simply not realistic. (The tie could be broken through a game of fast chess, but this is not shown either.) It goes without saying that the whole dramaturgy of the movie would be significantly altered by the sheer possibility of draws. To sum it up, I consider chess a poor choice for communicating the message of this movie. Choose a game that does not permit draws and the problem is solved--although then the somewhat heavy handed symbolism of the queen as the strongest piece would have to be sacrificed.

I was curious to watch this movie based on IMDb's full storyline and Kevin Kline's participation, not to mention Sandrine Bonnaire's lead, an accomplished international actor I had not seen in a while. I knew to expect a somewhat slow pace because of the storyline; logically a slow pace was called for as this had to be a character development piece. Of course I was right; I'd skip that comment if I wasn't. There are a few other reviews of the movie preceding mine, all quite good as well; I'd encourage all to read them since I won't be covering the story as much as those reviews but rather how I feel about the experience.Bonnaire's character has an epiphany while watching Jennifer Beals enjoying a chess match with her friend /husband /lover; the alluring Beals, distracting a bit, got our heroine Bonnaire thinking. This was the beginning of Hélène's (role played by Bonnaire) emancipation and self discovery. The movie is the process of Hélène's journey. There's no real or poignant dramatic moment, it's not this movie's process. The movie is fluid; the flow is however like the smallest of stream and widest river, unstoppable.I so enjoyed Kline's acting, it is my favourite by him since Silverado(1985) and Trade(2007); considering his over forty something total movies, you can conclude his depiction of Kröger (role played by Kline) was perfect in my view. It's even a pleasure to hear his actual voice recite his dialogue in French. Well it's a French movie, in case you had not picked that up yet. His character, an expat living out what we believe to be the remainder of his life in Corsica, has for me a personal a very appealing romantic edge.Back to Bonnaire, she is believable in each and every scene; either the director was great at her job, Bonnaire is exceptionally intuitive or their collaboration was simply flawless. I'll go with a bit of each. Contextual details were not neglected; a subtle reference to the fact that women are a rarity at chess tournaments did not escape me. I know that from personal experience. The crowd 'Hélène' attracts at her tournament match final would have been gawking at a woman in real life as well. I liked this very well done and acted movie; I feel sorry so many will not see it or have what it takes to enjoy it.