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The Luzhin Defence [DVD] [2000]
 
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The Luzhin Defence [DVD] [2000]

DVD ~ John Turturro
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £19.99
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Frequently Bought Together

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Luzhin Defence [DVD] [2000]
63% buy the item featured on this page:
The Luzhin Defence [DVD] [2000] 4.0 out of 5 stars (8)
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Product details

  • Actors: John Turturro, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, Stuart Wilson, Christopher Thompson
  • Directors: Marleen Gorris
  • Writers: Peter Berry, Vladimir Nabokov
  • Producers: Andrew Warren, Caroline Wood, Eric Robison, Jody Patton, Leo Pescarolo
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 12
  • Studio: Entertainment in Video
  • DVD Release Date: 19 Feb 2001
  • Run Time: 104 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000056N4R
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 25,258 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

Reviews

Special Features

16:9 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer


Synopsis

Based on the novel THE DEFENSE by Vladimir Nabokov, director Marleen Gorris's THE LUZHIN DEFENCE is set in Italy in the 1920s as the world reknowned chess master Alexander Luzhin (John Turturro) from St. Petersburg, Russia, arrives for a match with his only known rival. Almost immediately after he arrives, Luzhin meets a glowing, graceful aristocratic woman, Natalia (Emily Watson), who is attending the match with her mother. Surrounded by potential suitors, Natalia is busy behaving like a lady and presenting various young men to her mother for approval. However, she is curious about the slovenly, unconventional, quirky Luzhin from their first meeting, and she sees past his social ineptitude, believing him to be a true genius. Luzhin is utterly smitten, and practically forgets his determination to win the match when he proposes marriage to Natalia. From there, THE LUZHIN DEFENCE spirals downward as Natalia becomes a maternal figure to Luzhin, who is haunted by ghosts from his past and is nearly driven insane by the nagging, torturous pressure to figure out the one move (a flawless defense) that will allow him to win the chess match.
With beautiful imagery depicting the lavish Italian resort where the match is held, elegant costumes, and a triumphant, stirring classical score, THE LUZHIN DEFENCE is an evenly acted, well-paced film about love, intrigue, and going that extra mile.

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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars TREACHERY AND LOVE COMPETE FOR CHESS GENIUS' LIFE, 19 Feb 2005
By F. Sweet (Midwestern USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
The talented John Turturro and Emily Watson head an excellent cast delicately directed by Marleen Gorris to tell the story of THE LUZHIN DEFENCE. The Russian chess genius, Luzhin is believably played by Turturro whose range is unbelievably broad and convincing.

Story: Alexander (Sacha) Luzhin, a disheveled and erratic chess master [reminiscent of the main character, musical genius in SHINE] arrives at a resort in the Italian Lakes to compete in the world chess championships. He had visited the same resort many years earlier with his cold and distant parents who we meet in frequent flashbacks. Childhood memories disturb Luzhin during his stay. Among the guests at the resort is the beautiful Natalia (Watson), hounded by her mother (Geraldine James) to the search for a class perfect husband. Believing the handsome Stassard (Christopher Thompson) is the perfect candidate, Natalia's mother is horrified when she pursues a relationship with Luzhin after he spontaneously declares his love for her and he proposes marriage to her across a fence at a tennis court. As the final contest of the chess tournament approaches, Luzhin's treacherous former mentor Valentinov (Stuart Wilson) arrives at the resort and plots to destroy his game; and, indeed, his life.

Alexander's complicated relationships with Natalia, his parents and his mentor are all explored in the movie. But only one is explored to a satisfactory level -- his relationship with chess itself. The movie is reduced by some flawed stereotypes such as the villainous Valentinov and the society-obsessed mother. These distract from what is essentially a dark story of humans using each other as pawns in a game. Also on the negative side of the ledger is the absurd inaccuracey of the Lanc Hid (Chain Bridge) juxtaposed with the Millenium Park in Budapest, Hungary. The two places are several miles apart but in THE LUZHIN DEFENCE, Director Gorris changes the city for the sake of a departure shot. That' simply not honest.

On the positive side, the rhythms of Vladimir Nabokov's prose (in a screenplay by Peter Berry) conveys the the sad, sometimes comic, story. Luzhin's White Russian emigre class are a people so cultivated and refined that wherever they travel they feel at home. But for poor Luzhin, his crippling by neuroses will not allow him to participate in this life. Turturro, as usual, is superb. He could have turned Luzhin into a highly amusing freak show, and it would have been great fun but it would have ruined the movie. He keeps Luzhin's pathos clearly in focus. We can feel the torment that Luzhin undergoes so crushingly that we must admire his noble battle to stand up to oppressors not only all around him, but from his own mind. Turturro's tenderness, even romance are not associated with any of his earlier works. It's a great performance in a hypnotic movie.

This movie is worth seeing because of its ethereal novelty and virtuoso performances by Turturro and Watson.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Opening Move for Pushkins Duel, 26 Oct 2002
By taking a rest - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
I have not read the book upon which this movie is based, so I had no expectations that needed to be met or dashed. Knowledge of chess is not required to enjoy this film, when explanations enhance a scene they are provided. John Turturro and Emily Watson are wonderful and the setting at Lake Como is gorgeous. The title, "The Luzhin Defence", is applicable not only to an endgame strategy devised, but also represents what the character of Luzhin employs every day of his life to survive.

Chess is a fabulously complex game that no player has ever claimed to have mastered. Brilliant champions like Kasparov explain their endless fascination with the game is precisely because it is a challenge that can never be met with finality. If you pick up any basic chess book, the possible directions that are available to the two players, especially at the game's start are measured exponentially. Great players must be able to predict a variety of futures as the result of any given move they or their opponent may choose. This is demonstrated with a bit of sleight of hand of the director during one match in the film to great effect.

Luzhin is a man who is shaped both by his genius and the dysfunctional family he is the product of. Chess simultaneously defines his life, offers him shelter from those around him, and leads him to an addiction to the game that starts as eccentric and progresses to destructive. This is not a story of yet another person of extraordinary talent who also is socially dysfunctional because of his genius. His childhood and his early life are what he must form a defence against. Chess becomes a scapegoat for all the problems he sees around him as a youth. He does not have talent; rather he sees the harm he appears to inflict by constantly defeating his father at the game. His mentor and coach become no more than the means by which he is exploited.

His relationship with Emily Watson's character is appropriate as she too is considered wildly unconventional by the standards of her parents, although primarily by her mother. She is also the target of constant criticism, her life a sequence of interferences by her mother, an overbearing anti-Semitic nuisance of a person.

The close of the film initially left me disappointed. However after letting a day pass it actually becomes poignant if you are willing to stretch a bit for it. Director Marleen Gorris does s very good job of portraying the story on the screen. How much justice she does the book, as I mentioned I can not say.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Man of Glass, 15 Aug 2008
By Niels Peter Q. Marstrand (Copenhagen Area, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Having read & reviewed Nabokov's original book version (The Luzhin Defense (Penguin Modern Classics)), let me first stress that despite a few important changes, the film is as admirably faithful to the book as a visual work can be while remaining visual & gripping.

Now to the film on its own merits. Simply put, this is a confidently directed, precisely acted, & superbly staged tragedy - but unlike many tragedies, it concludes with a partial redemption.

Alexander Luzhin is a Chess grandmaster, clumsy, eccentric, & "nerdy" even by the roomy standards of the interwar Chess world. As brilliant & agile as he shows himself on his 64-square, black & white stage, as heavy, confused, & fragile is his earthly existence. He lacks all geographical orientation. He forgets time as thoroughly as he loses space. He claims to know dancing, but has never danced with a real, live partner. He has few social skills, no polite conversation, & minimal hygiene.

Yet having arrived at an Italian luxury resort hosting the top players for the Chess world championship held in the vicinity, he falls in love with a fellow guest: Natalia, played with mastery & restraint by Emily Watson.

But the world championship is still on & Luzhin's past is catching up. A darkly influential acquaintance arrives to sabotage, behind the stage, Luzhin's game. The weapons he uses are as deceptively trivial as they are toxic to Luzhin's fragile self. Bolstered by the heart & wisdom of his new love, Luzhin must battle enemies on & off the board, both obvious & subtle. But the price he pays at each confrontation escalates.

This tale of one man's genius, & of one woman's unconditional understanding for his peculiar beauty, is a marvel of simplicity & strength. The story is as memorable on the screen as in print. With minimal but striking imagery, the film captures everything essential.
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