The Luzhin Defence

Set in 1929, this adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel of love and obsession stars John Turturro as Alexander Luzhin, a shambling and eccentric chess Grandmaster who arrives in a North Italian lakeside resort to play the match of his career. After a childhood in which passion for chess substituted for the lack of love and affection, into the adult Luzhin's life comes Natalia (Emily Watson), a beautiful Russian with aristocratic émigré parents who are determined to marry her off well. Already matched up by her family to the very suitable Comte de Stassard (Christopher Thompson), when Natalia meets Luzhin she is drawn to the erratic genius and offers him a glimpse of larger vistas. But it is a world he is not equipped to deal with, and the conflict between obsessions threatens to consume him.