Queen to Play

Occasionally -- about once or twice a year -- Laemmle Theatres owner Bob Laemmle likes to put a personal stamp of approval on one of the many movies we show. Here is his latest:

"I would like to offer a recommendation for the French film QUEEN TO PLAY. When I first saw this film two years ago, both my wife and I found it to be a deeply enjoyable film. It has taken two years for the film to finally reach our screens due to the fact that the initial distributor went bankrupt. QUEEN TO PLAY stars Sandrine Bonnaire, who first became a star at age 18 in Agnès Varda’s 1985 film VAGABOND. Her co-star is Kevin Kline in a superb French-speaking performance. It is all that you could hope a French film would offer you. It is as well a heartwarming female-empowerment story. It will not have a large advertising budget so if you see and enjoy this film please pass along your recommendations to your friends."

Synopsis: Oscar winner Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) and the luminous Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond) square off in this stylish and sophisticated dramedy of newfound passions and mid-life triumphs, set on the postcard-perfect isle of Corsica. Lovely, repressed and quietly intelligent, French chambermaid Hélène (Bonnaire) discovers she has a knack for chess. This obsession—much to the chagrin of her husband and teenaged daughter—leads her to seek the clandestine tutelage of a reclusive American doctor (Kline, in his first French-speaking role)—a liaison that radically transforms both of their lackluster lives.

"Riveting..like The Maid, Queen to Play posits a radically different approach to class and gender empowerment." (Ronnie Scheib, Variety)