I can't think of another movie that more fluently communicates the special agony and ecstasy of the game of chess.
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Watson's character grows in importance until she eclipses the recessive Luzhin.
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
You'll find heartbreakingly star-crossed lovers, a heartless villain (Wilson) and a dazzling backdrop of aristocratic life before and after the Russian Revolution.
70
Film.comPeter Brunette
Film.comPeter Brunette
Gorris has beefed up the role of Natalia (Watson), with the end result that the film's emphasis is appropriately divided between the two characters in an emotionally satisfying way.
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Handsome and well-acted, yet it can't hold a pawn to Nabokov's harrowing and moving character study.
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The film is elegiac and sad, beautifully mounted, but not as compelling as it should be.
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
An attractive, intelligent film that's intractably at odds with itself.
In the end, it demonstrates all over again the virtual impossibility of doing Nabokov justice on film, because his work is so resolutely and brilliantly made of words.
50
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
When the film sticks with the eccentric comedy of a highborn woman attracted to a preoccupied genius, it works splendidly. When it strays into melodrama, it is as ill-equipped as Luzhin.