User Reviews

Not being a chess player, when reading the comments I was not sure. Pierre Richard used to be one of my favorite actors in comedies. This is not a comedy, and Richard is not convincing as a preacher. But, let me reassure you, this movie is never boring, it's not about chess, it's about how far can you go in life in general. "This is a game that kills me" is often repeated and in this film it is true, although not literally, but there is much at stake. A mother (Catherine Deneuve) organizes a tournament in which money, a title and her daughter is the price. The daughter, Hilde Heynen, is perfectly casted and plays her role as in a Forster-movie. Without telling you the entire plot, through schemes, she plays check-mate against her mother. Nice locations, nice script with good switches, poor acting by Denis Lavant or poor direction(?). But Hilde Heynen is a revelation. She's the cunning part of this story and plays it all the way through. 8 points.

This movie represents the life itself. The characters are brilliant. Denis Lavant (Maitre Max) lives a caricatural chess life. Comparison with real life -- with your life -- is straightforward and will be made easier if you know the chess game.

Max, 12 years old, a child and suicidal vagabond meets Ambrose, disillusioned pastor. The boy needed soon as a genius of chess. They go all out to conquer the world champion title. Fourteen years later, Max has become a dandy powder, strange and taciturn. Always accompanied by Ambroise, faithful coach, manager and protector. Max is confronted with the most elegant and most condescending Champions moments, Lord Staunton, during a meeting organized by the Machiavellian Marquise de Theux. This passion for chess and amorous intrigues give her daughter, the lovely Anne-Lise, the winner of this tournament. In a world of thriller, where the game does not stop at the scene, the protagonists are risking their lives and their mothers while behind a cliff, the sun goes down on a giant chessboard.

a character who reminds Leopardi. Denis Lavant is the perfect option for the strange master Max. Catherine Deneuve. Pierre Richard in sketch of role. and James Wilby in a kind of game for British stereotypes. a film high to be memorable but useful for rediscover the flavor of a period. a script without patience and more suggestion than real good lines. too unrealistic, only collection of drawing about the characters, it is saved by a form of beauty who could be precious for a state of soul. but nothing else. so, an easy film, confused in few scenes, dramatic and aesthetically. interesting for actors and for a story who has not the best teller. but it is not a great sin. because it remains a nice meeting with a lost world and not bad portrait of romantic genius.