Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

c0nfuzi the premise is promising, the actors were great, the subject is deep. what could go wrong? well the script was at times either too much or predictable which turned me off. the characters were typical. when she had that argument with the Doctor, the scene is so random that it feels like they had to jeopardize the friendship right before the final act. the beginning was deceitful. the way she learns how to play chest is unrealistic. the outcome was deceitful. at the beginning, all the self-empowerment and self-fulfillement was all right, it's all inspiring until the main character decide to cheat her husband without guilt and consequences. just like that.

rps-2 There are movies about baseball and swimming and even pool and poker. This one is about chess. And it is a superb film, one of the few I've rated ten. Where to start? The rich photography and the stunning scenery? The captivating, believable characters? The subtleties that Europe does so well but Hollywood doesn't even understand? Perhaps the thing I liked best was the wonderful facial expressions. Anyone can learn a line. It takes much more talent to convey a story with a raised eyebrow, a cunning smile, an expression of shocked surprise. The movie is a winner even if you don't know the difference betaken a pawn and a rook. But if you play chess and understand its culture, it is especially engaging. Chess is wrongly regarded as a slow and boring game. Here it has the excitement of a bobsled run. Just a heluva great movie!

TxMike We saw this on Netflix streaming movies. French with English subtitles, it was not hard at all. In fact my wife, who usually avoids subtitled films enjoyed this one all the way through.The movie was filmed on the French Island of Corsica, roughly the size of Jamaica, not small at all. This provided for great scenery. The story centers on Sandrine Bonnaire as Hélène, diligently married with teenage daughter. They are solidly middle class, her husband works building boats, she works as a cleaning lady, in a local hotel and once a week for a man living alone in his country home. The man is American expat, Kevin Kline as Kröger, who seems a bit gruff most of the time and would rather be left alone. We don't find out too much about him except that his wife has died, and he still wears his wedding band. Plus he has a nice chess set on a table in his home.The story moves towards Sandrine Hélène's curiosity about the game of chess. She knows nothing about it, and sort of learns by using an inexpensive computer chess game given to her husband at his party. Very forthright she tells Kröger that she wants to play chess with him. So they set up 4PM on Tuesdays, he will give her an hour. But she stays up, sometimes all night until morning at home, trying to learn this game which fascinates her.The game is chess, but the story is about a woman who has settled into a very joyless routine in life, taken for granted by her husband and daughter, and having no intellectual outlet for herself. She gains something through her interest in chess and becomes a different person, a happier person, for it. SPOILERS: At first she is defeated quite easily by Kröger. She has no concept for the subtleties of the game and its strategy. So he softens up and teaches her, and soon he cannot beat her. She has a natural feel and talent for chess, he encourages her to participate in a high level amateur tournament, even though she did not belong to any club, had no ranking. But she defeats each opponent, and wins the tournament. This gives her fresh status in the community, more important gives her something of her own that she could enjoy. Maybe she (fictionally) eventually became an international chess champion!

toast-15 From the first scene I wanted to physically BE where this film was made. The location shots are absolutely stunning. Hèléne (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a maid who works in a hotel as well as the private home of an expat American, Dr. Kröger (Kevin Kline). While at the hotel, you get the impression that she is harangued and bothered all day long. She is an invisible worker who people only notice when they have something to complain about. However, on this particular day, one of the rooms she enters has a young couple playing chess on the veranda. They are separated from her by nothing more than a loose, sheer panel that sways gently in the breeze but they may as well be miles away. They beckon her to enter the room and she does but she cannot take her eyes off of them while half-heartedly trying to focus on cleaning the room. They each in turn notice her prolonged gaze but they do not mind. She is asked if she plays chess and says no. In that instant, she realizes the great chasm between her life and the two lovers on the veranda. They are carefree, they are in love, they are fulfilled, they are confidant, they are happy, they understand the game. She perceives their status to be out of her reach. She wants to occupy that space but she just doesn't know how nor does she truly believe that she can.By the end of the movie, we see Hèléne achieving her goal of playing an intellectually stimulating and sensually arousing game of chess with her own secret lover but her version far surpasses the scene she first glimpsed early on in the film that started the whole ball rolling. The last chess scene is a scene that says so much about the characters, their deep understanding of the game, their devotion and love to each other, intellectual equals duking it out with an invisible board and chess pieces all visualized and strategized in their minds. Their moves are whispered quietly, eyes transfixed on each other, as they parry for the win. The scene plays homage to the superficially simple yet complex game of chess and to the deep and abiding friendship and love between Dr. Kröger and Hèléne. She always had the power, she just didn't know it, nor did she understand how to use it. Dr. Kröger filled in the blanks and then some. The last scene between them is probably one of the best love scenes I've ever had the privilege to see on screen. And so I leave you with this: Wow!P.S. I found it interesting how this film compares and contrasts with the Japanese film, "Shall We Dance".