The Luzhin Defence

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The Luzhin Defence ★★ 2000 (PG-13)

Luzhin (Turturro) is an eccentric Russian chess genius who is staying at an Italian lakeside resort in 1929 preparing for an important match. Also preparing for a match—the marital kind—is Russian emigre Natalia (Watson) and her aristocratic mother Vera (James). And Luzhin is not the man Vera has in mind for her daughter, no matter what Natalia thinks. But as the stress of the match takes its toll on Luzhin, he believes he cannot have both love and the game. Based on the 1930 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. 106m/C VHS, DVD . FR GB John Turturro, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, Stuart Wilson, Christopher Thompson, Peter Blythe, Orla Brady, Fabio Sartor; D: Marleen Gorris; W: Peter Berry; C: Bernard Lutic; M: Alexandre Desplat.