Joueuse (Queen to Play) poster & wallpaper
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Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals, Valérie Lagrange ... see more see more... , Alexandra Gentil , Alice Pol , Élisabeth Vitali , Dominic Gould , Daniel Martin , Laurence Colussi , Didier Ferrari , Valérie Tréjean

Oscar (R) winner Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, The Ice Storm) and the luminous Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond, La Cérémonie) square off in this stylish and sophisticated dramedy of newfound passions ... read more read more...and mid-life triumphs, set on the postcard-perfect isle of Corsica. Lovely, repressed and quietly intelligent, French chambermaid Hélène (Bonnaire) discovers her love for chess when, one day, she comes upon a couple (The L Word's Jennifer Beals and Marie Antoinette's Dominic Gould) engaged in an intense match. This obsession with the game, much to the chagrin of her husband and teenaged daughter, leads her to seek the clandestine tutelage of a reclusive American doctor (Kline, in his first French-speaking role)-a liaison that radically transforms both of their lackluster lives. Based on Bertina Henrichs' acclaimed novel La Joueuse d'echec (The Chess Player), QUEEN TO PLAY is the auspicious feature film debut of French director and screenwriter Caroline Bottaro. -- (C) Zeitgeist

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71% liked it

2,096 ratings

Critics

68% liked it

38 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 41 min.

Directed by: Caroline Bottaro

Release Date: April 1, 2011

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DVD Release Date: May 31, 2011

Stats: 68 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (68)

  • fb1216165431
    September 10, 2011
    fb1216165431
    An attempt to answer why the queen is more powerful than the king in the game of chess, Queen To Play intelligently explores the nature of midlife crises that often lead to transformed passions and self-discovery. Inspiring.
  • fb1144932598
    February 19, 2012
    fb1144932598
    A wonderful story of a woman who finds herself capable of more than she ever imagined. Sandrine Bonnaire as Helene, a hotel chambermaid, and Kevin Kline as Doctor Kroger, her mentor, are marvelous. Her obsession with the game of chess forms the background for this story, but it i... read mores the interaction between these two characters that drives the narrative. Each seems to draw out the best in the other. Dr Kroger has shunned most human contact since the death of his wife, and Helene seems to be just going through the motions of her life. As the two find a common interest in the game of chess, they each find they have more to offer than either of them believed. Filmed in Corsica, the scenery is beautiful, the dialog is interesting, and a thorough knowledge of chess is not necessary to be able to appreciate the interplay between the two main characters. This viewer was enraptured.
  • gator681
    April 18, 2011
    gator681
    In "Queen to Play," Helene(Sandrine Bonnaire) and Ange(Francis Renaud) have trouble making ends meet, especially with the 400 euros they pay so their teenaged daughter Lisa(Alexandra Gentil) can take a school trip to England. With work slow in the shipyards where Ange works, Hel... read moreene picks up the slack cleaning rooms at a hotel where she witnesses a chess match between two American guests(Jennifer Beals & Dominic Gould) which makes her want to learn the game herself. After buying an electronic chess set for her husband for his birthday, she then asks Dr. Kroger(Kevin Kline), who she also cleans for, to give her lessons.

    "Queen to Play" is a gently engaging movie that uses chess as a metaphor but takes it in a different direction than normal. Usually, chess is presented as a game between adversaries with high stakes or on the other end of the spectrum with the pawns. Here, the emphasis is on the queen, which as the movie states is the most powerful piece on the board but also one that should not be deployed too early, symbolizing Helene's late blooming with finally the inspiration and encouragement she has sorely been lacking. That's not all as I suspect she is sexually turned on by the American woman but then Jennifer Beals could make anything look sexy.(Notice that after that first meeting, Helene goes right to her husband's work place and later tries to put the nightgown to good use.) Chess is also a sport(A friend of mine would love to hear it referred to as such. She claimed chess was a sport since it was written about in Sports Illustrated. Works for me.) where it is important to think moves ahead(which I never did when I played in college, playing it like a war of attrition which confounded my opponent) which is hard for Helene and Ange to do in their lives since they are forced to live paycheck to paycheck.
  • fb100002946249850
    November 23, 2011
    fb100002946249850
    The scenes between Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire swell up like froth off a newly opened cold beer on a very hot afternoon. There is no spilling. It's just about perfect with the indecision in the air, leaving us in an interminable joyous wait. This is Kline like he was in "Life as ... read morea house". I am noticing Sandrine for the first time. The story isn't much. Yeah, you might want to buy a chessboard immediately after this one gets over.
  • zutron
    November 15, 2011
    zutron
    Being a midlife woman longing for something to spark a fire in me-- I strongly identified with this story. I can also identify with the seduction of the game as a wholely absorbing activity. The setting was gorgeous and the two central characters played beautifully off each other
  • ChGeor9
    July 28, 2011
    ChGeor9
    I thought the leads were very good in the story. I found it slow moving at times just like a game of Chess. I use to play chess whenin school, so I liked how the did playing the game.
  • ac2010fz
    June 17, 2011
    ac2010fz
    Very pleasant to watch, one of the feel-good movies, chess is an interesting subject but the execution of the story was a little cliche.
  • CitizenCharlie
    May 7, 2011
    CitizenCharlie
    Everyone has their 'thing'. For some it truly can be a passion. Perhaps you know someone who reads all of the time, or a marathon runner, or a connoisseur of fine whiskey. My 'thing' is film and to a lesser extent music. I cannot stop watching and reading about movies. For m... read morey wife, she cannot stop exercising and to a lesser extent reading. For my new blog follower, her 'thing' appears to be a deep love of English literature dominated by Jane Eyre.

    In Queen to Play (Joueuse), Helene's (Sandrine Bonnaire) passion is chess. Helene is Corsican and does not realize what her passion is until middle age. She has a teenage daughter, a marriage which is just going through the motions, and a soul crushing job as a hotel maid which does not give her time for hobbies, let alone a passion. While cleaning the room of a well to do American couple one morning, she eyes them from a distance while they play chess, a game she has only heard of, but never actually saw in action. The couple is very much in love and radiates a sense of ease and relaxation towards one another which Helene probably never thought possible between couples. Her brain now cannot stop studying the chess pieces, their respective movements, and the back and forth drama of a chess match.

    Enter Kevin Kline as the tutor/mentor. Helene is employed as his cleaning lady and notices he has a chess board. Overcoming her natural shyness and aloofness, she asks to play him and they develop a sort of student/teacher bond over chess and later on, life. The most effective parts of the film occur as Helene interacts with her family and the strain which chess eventually puts on them as it alienates her husband and sets her up for mockery around town. The film's pacing and the audience's interest in Helene actually tapers off towards the end when she takes her newfound skills public and enters a tournament. The rise of the cleaning lady busting through the glass ceiling of professional chess plays more as a cliché gimmick than a feel good self improvement moment. The tournament lacks a certain amount of drama or suspense which is should have by that point. In fact, all scenes actually involving the playing of chess and the wary eye movements as opponents observe each other doesn't particularly work either. More of Helene and her life on Corsica and less actual chess (unless the director figures out a more effective way to show it) would raise this film up a bit more.

View All Joueuse (Queen to Play) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ronnie Scheib
July 26, 2011
Ronnie Scheib, Variety

[A] clever feel-good lark. Full Review

J. R. Jones
July 8, 2011
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Subplots involving the heroine's resentful husband and rebellious teenage daughter never amount to much, though the story builds toward a satisfactory, if formulaic, climax. Full Review

Bill Goodykoontz
June 30, 2011
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

"Queen to Play" falls somewhat into the "Pygmalion" template, but watching Bonnaire's Helene find herself makes it worthy in its own right. Full Review

Colin Covert
May 26, 2011
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Dull hokum. Full Review

Jen Chaney
May 13, 2011
Jen Chaney, Washington Post

There's something particularly enjoyable about settling into a film whose pleasures reside in quiet moments, understated performances and the reading of subtitles. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
May 5, 2011
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It's almost necessary to see it twice to really appreciate fully what's going on between Kline and Bonnaire's characters over the course of the film. Full Review

Ty Burr
May 5, 2011
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

If you've been dying to see Kevin Kline in his first French-speaking role or Jennifer Beals in her first chess-playing one, here it is. Your move. Full Review

Roger Ebert
May 5, 2011
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What I enjoyed was the way the film summons up the pure obsessive passion that chess stirs in some people. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
April 6, 2011
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

[A] gentle tale of chess and midlife emotions from debut writer-director Caroline Bottaro. Full Review

Joe Neumaier
April 1, 2011
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

There isn't much more than that, except two masterful turns by Kline and Bonnaire and an appreciation for how games of strategy are bigger than the boards they're played on. Full Review

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