• Film Title (Original): JOUEUSE
  • Title (English): QUEEN TO PLAY
  • Title (Spanish):Jugadora
  • Country Of Origin: France, Germany
  • Year Of Completion: 2009
  • Running Time: 101 min.
  • Format/Color/Bw: Digi Beta, color
  • Language: French with Spanish Subtitles
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FILM CREDITS:

  • Directora: Caroline Bottaro
  • Producer: Dominique Besnehard, Michel Feller
  • Executive Producer: Jean-Philippe Laroche
  • Screenwriters: Caroline Bottaro, Bertina Henrichs
  • Cinematographer: Jean-Claude Larrieu
  • Editor: Tina Baz
  • Cast: Sandrine Bonaire, Kevin Kline, Valerie Lagrange

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Sandrine Bonnaire and Kevin Kline (in his first French-speaking role) shine in this sophisticated feel-good comedy set in idyllic Corsica. Middle-aged chambermaid Hélène's newfound obsession with the game of chess leads her to seek the tutelage of a reclusive American expat, transforming both of their ho-hum lives in the process. Hélène’s slow transformation -- from hard-working wife and mother to fey creature of complex strategies and secret smiles -- proves riveting, for both the audience and her fictional mentor.

Variety quotes: “Though her script stresses social repression, Bottaro directs "Queen" like an oddball romantic comedy, with chess as a benign form of sex-tinged interchange, romantically exploiting the lush Corsican landscape, with its winding corniches and mountainous seaside vistas, as a measure of the vast potential opening before Helene”

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY:

Caroline Bottaro

Caroline Bottaro lives in Paris, France. In 1995 she wrote and directed the short film La Mère, starring Nathalie Baye. Bottaro wrote several films directed by Jean-Pierre Améris: Le Bateau de mariage(1993), Les Aveux de l'innocent (1996), La Fille préférée (2000), andC'est la vie (2001). Queen to Play is her first feature film.