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Queen to Play
Directed by
Caroline Bottaro
Not Rated
2009
1h 37m
Drama
,
Comedy
6.9
70%
72%
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Middle-aged chambermaid Hélène's newfound obsession with the game of chess leads her to seek the tutelage of a reclusive American expat, transforming both of their ho-hum lives in the process.
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Where to Watch Queen to Play
Kanopy
Free
Apple TV
Rent $3.99
Buy $8.99
Cast of Queen to Play
Sandrine Bonnaire
Hélène
Kevin Kline
Kröger
Valérie Lagrange
Maria
Francis Renaud
Ange
Alexandra Gentil
Lisa
Alice Pol
Natalia
Élisabeth Vitali
Marie-Jeanne
Jennifer Beals
L’Américaine
Dominic Gould
L’Américain
Christine Ambrosini
La femme de l'autocar
Anne-Camille Challier
Fanny
Valérie Tréjean
L'infirmière
Laurence Colussi
Pina
Daniel Martin
Le président du club d'échecs
François Orsoni
Le journaliste
Didier Ferrari
Jacky
Maxime Delauney
Le jeune homme du tournoi
Queen to Play Ratings & Reviews
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Calvin Wilson
Maintains a wonderful balance between grit and grace.
Arizona Republic
Bill Goodykoontz
"Queen to Play" falls somewhat into the "Pygmalion" template, but watching Bonnaire's Helene find herself makes it worthy in its own right.
Washington Post
Jen Chaney
There's something particularly enjoyable about settling into a film whose pleasures reside in quiet moments, understated performances and the reading of subtitles.
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
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.
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
[A] gentle tale of chess and midlife emotions from debut writer-director Caroline Bottaro.
Seattle Times
Moira MacDonald
Bonnaire beautifully captures her character's simmering intelligence and vague discontent; Kline, performing his entire role in French for the first time, again proves himself a master of the raised eyebrow.
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
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.
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
What I enjoyed was the way the film summons up the pure obsessive passion that chess stirs in some people.
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Though Kline handles his role expertly, "Queen to Play" succeeds as well as it does because of Bonnaire.
AV Club
Noel Murray
Bottaro adapted her screenplay from a novel by Bertina Henrichs, and though the premise is original, the trajectory of the plot feels pretty second-hand.
New York Daily News
Joe Neumaier
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.
New York Times
Stephen Holden
In small but significant ways, "Queen to Play" defies expectations.
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
"Queen To Play" is ultimately about people's capacity for emotional and intellectual growth at any age.
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Queen To Play, however, competes on a very high level as a story of an inner journey that's not simply black-and-white.
Variety
Ronnie Scheib
[A] clever feel-good lark.
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
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.
NPR
Ella Taylor
Relaxed and goofy in Dave, A Fish Called Wanda and a host of other comedies, Kevin Kline has an endearing way of subverting his own grandee impulses when he's being funny. Give the actor a dramatic role, though, and he comes on all Shakespeare in the Park.
Village Voice
Ernest Hardy
The supporting cast is uniformly fine, but the film rests on the delicate shoulders of Bonnaire, who carries it with a soulful, magnetic presence.
Slant Magazine
Andrew Schenker
Misrepresents the difficulties of women with no semi-marketable talents at freeing themselves from their own domestic grind.
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