The Luzhin Defence
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Christopher Thompson, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, John Turturro, Stuart Wilson (II)DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-09-18
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of The Luzhin Defence
Movie Review: Transformative love can only go so far
Summary: 5 Stars
When a film is made from a novel, sometimes literary license must be allowed to unleash the essence of the new product so that it becomes a work of art in its own right. This film is loosely based on Vladimir Nabokov's The Defense and is able to achieve the status of a work of art upon its own merits. I found the film to be really wonderful. It is filmed in a beautiful setting on Lake Como and the flashback scenes of St. Petersburg are beautiful and darkly haunting.
John Turturro is exceptional as Alexandre Luzhin, a chess prodigy with some autistic characteristics and almost complete lack of social skills. Through the use of flashbacks to the childhood of young Alexandre in St. Petersburg Russia we connect childhood experiences and trauma with the odd experiences of a disturbed fellow barely able to survive in the real world. We learn of Luzhin's development as a chess prodigy in an aristocratic Russian family.
The film wisely unfolds by first presenting beautiful Natalia Katkov, played to perfection by the highly talented Emily Watson. She and her mother are vacationing at a beautiful resort on the shores of Lake Como in Northern Italy. Her mother, Vera, played exceptionally well by Geraldine James, is concerned with Natalia finding a rich, smart and handsome husband. Director Marleen Gorris wisely sets this stage so that you can experience how both mother and daughter respond to the entrance of the uniquely odd and awkward Luzhin into the scene. Daughter Natalia is attracted to this man with no social skills and graces for she has been reared in a world where these skills were necessary for human interactions and negotiations. Her mother however responds with total disgust and even horror when she begins to realize that her daughter might actually be attracted to a man she considers to be a lunatic. Geraldine James gets some of the best lines in the film as she is allowed to make comments about poor Luzhin that the viewer is probably also thinking.
Luzhin is a somewhat sympathetic character as played by Turturro. A disturbed man with no social skills and characteristics of autism would be a challenge for any actor and John Turturro does an exceptional job of playing the odd Alexandre Luzhin, a man of compulsions and obsessions and tics. He falls for Natalia and proposes to her in their second conversation before he even knows her name. She handles this with grace, charm, compassion, and nurturance. But Luzhin has come to Lake Como for the world chess championship and he must defeat a handsome, intelligent, Italian master who is extremely sophisticated. Into this world however also creeps Valentinov, a former school master and mentor for Luzhin, and he tries to find a way to make Luzhin's defeat benefit himself. Valentinov has made a fortune displaying the young Luzhin as a child prodigy and the only way Luzhin could get away was to act like he had lost his gift for chess, at which point Valentinov drops him like a hot rock. Thus when Valentinov learns that Luzhin has risen in the ranks of chess to world champion he not only wants some of the action, he wants to get a bit of revenge on the poor autistic man that has escaped his grasp.
Much happens in this fine film but one especially wonderful passage is related to Luzhin's inability to find a particular strategy that can be used to defeat the more worldly Turati, his Italian competitor. When Luzhin and Natalia make love, this first act of sexual intercourse with a woman he loves loosens him up cognitively and he eventually has a break-through strategy as to how to defeat Turati. Love can be transformative of the way we perceive ourselves and the world and this part of the film certainly supports this notion.
Even if Valentinov is played as a villain by Stuart Wilson, the common goodness of many of the other characters comes through. Turati, the Italian master and competitor for Luzhin, played by Fabio Sartor, is revealed to be a genuine gentleman and fine person. The handsome French Count, Stassard, played by Christopher Thompson, plays the role of the man Natalia's mother wishes she would marry and he turns out to be a decent chap, supportive even in the final sad passages of this film.
Natalia knows that her love is transformative, giving her a sense of power, which eventually she uses to resolve the equation of the sad ending. You will not come away defeated in the end, but rather appreciative of loves powers and limitations in a world where unfortunately some of us are damaged goods.
I found this film to be excellent, thoughtful and moving. Highly recommended.
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