Synopsis
1929. Alexandre Loujine is an eccentric man who is detached from the world. His sole interest is chess. He is among the world’s top players of the sport. It compensates for the lack of affection from which he’s suffered throughout his life. Loujine heads for a small seaside resort in the north of Italy to play in a do-or-die tournament. The obsessive, blinkered existence of this man who has always believed he only had one passion is shaken up by Natalia, a beautiful Russian aristocrat émigré. She is destined to marry a wealthy man and her mother, Vera, has already found the perfect candidate: Count Jean de Stassard, an attractive chess fan who has come to watch the tournament. Natalia knows that Stassard would make a perfect husband, but she’s attracted to Loujine. Although the count provides her with pleasant cruises and witty conversation, the chess player makes wild declarations of love and enchants her with his genius… Contrary to her parents’ wishes, the young woman embarks upon a...
Credits
Director (1)
Actors (5)
Production and distribution (4)
- Executive Producer : Ice 3
- Co-production : France 2 Cinéma
- Foreign production company : Renaissance Films
- French distribution : Fox France
Full credits (12)
- Executive Producer : Louis Becker
- Screenwriter : Peter Berry
- Director of Photography : Bernard Lutic
- Music Composer : Alexandre Desplat
- Editor : Michael Reichwein
- Sound Recordist : Peter Glossop
- Costume designer : Jany Temime
- Foreign producer : Caroline Wood
- Author of original work : Vladimir Nabokov
- Co-producer : Philippe Guez
- Press Attaché (film) : Jean-Pierre Vincent
- Production Designer : Tony Burrough
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Technical details
- Type : Feature film
- Genres : Fiction
- Sub-genre : Drama, Romance
- Production language : English
- Coproducer countries : Great Britain, France
- Original French-language productions : No