The Luzhin Defence
*
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Cornerhouse (Manchester)
Released in the UK by Entertainment on September 8, 2000; certificate 12;
108 minutes; countries of origin France/Italy/Hungary/UK/USA; aspect ratio
1.85:1
Directed by Marleen Gorris; produced by
Louis Becker, Stephen Evans, Philippe Guez, Caroline
Wood.
Written by Peter Berry; based on the novel by Vladimir
Nabokov.
Photographed by Bernard Lutic; edited by Michael
Reichwein.
CAST.....
John Turturro..... Alexander Luzhin
Emily Watson..... Natalia
Geraldine James..... Vera
Stuart Wilson..... Valentinov
Christopher Thompson..... Stassard
Fubio Sartor..... Turati
An excerpt from notes I took during the screening
of this movie: "I have a full can of Diet Coke sitting next to me. It
could pick up great momentum. You have no idea how tempted I am to throw
it at the screen."
For something that attempts to be drama, character
study, romance and thriller, it's amazing how dull "The Luzhin Defence"
remains. This is a movie full of cliché and incompetence,
but just because it's not structured to a formula the director, Marlene Gorris,
and writer, Peter Berry, probably thought they were making something special;
they've let their dead material unfold at a pompously slow
pace.
The film takes place around an upmarket Italian
hotel in the 1920s, where Alexander Luzhin (John Turturro) is preparing for
the World Championship Chess Tournament. Luzhin is an eccentric figure who
walks around in a torn, grubby suit, muttering to himself and scribbling
down strategies in a battered old notebook. Walking in the garden one afternoon
he spies Natalia (Emily Watson), an upper-class girl who instantly takes
his fancy. "I want you to be me wife!" he soon announces. Her response: "Would
it not be proper to know my name first?"
Before this, the couple have said little to each
other, but we're well clued in to the fact they're supposed to be together.
Their first meeting is a scene of shamelessly slushy drivel -- filmmaking
at the level of an infomercial, with their eyes meeting and locking in a
soft-focus close-up, as a breeze runs tenderly through their hair and soft
piano music plays on the soundtrack. (I'm not making this up.) Natalia is
soon infused with unconditional wonderment and love for Luzhin, even though
she should be running a mile, as he's a weirdo she knows nothing about. Rich
girls, eh?
The story involves Natalia trying to calm Luzhin
down when his frantic genius brain boils over, as well as defending him to
her snobbish parents and protecting him from some evil chess conspirators
who are out to destroy his career. None of this matters, because we're too
distracted by the incompetence of the filmmaking to give a damn about the
plot. The photography is muddy and depressing, but even so, Gorris lets scenes
linger on to show off the period re-creation; it's like a crappy Merchant
Ivory wannabe with the budget of a snuff picture.
This is the kind of film in which the villains
dress in wide, broad-shouldered, pin-striped suits, resembling American
gangsters. Every time they come onscreen the music score bombards us with
sinister drum and violin sounds. Ridiculous flashbacks to Luzhin's childhood
provide the best examples of the film's warped dialogue, containing such
lines as "My husband cheats, just as my son cheats -- I am surrounded by...
cheats!" and "Just as Pushkin's doomed duellist declared -- let's start!"
Luzhin himself is not so much a character as a caricature, cobbled together
from better movies like "Amadeus", "Shine" and "Immortal Beloved" -- he chain
smokes, fidgets, moves in and out of a limp, and lets his eyes and voice
go all over the shop.
Berry's screenplay is based on a Vladimir Nabokov
novel that I have neither read nor heard much about. I do know that Nabokov
is a sharp and witty writer -- whose "Lolita" was also adapted into stoical
cinematic garbage in 1998 -- so perhaps the book is better. I'm not going
to spend a long time pondering this; "The Luzhin Defence" is a terrible movie
that ain't worth the effort, and I've got Napster downloads to check
on.
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
Waldron-Mantgani
2000 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2000 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)