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Reviewer: James van Maanen

Rating (out of five): ****

A shoo-in to attract foreign film buffs who enjoy arthouse movies of the more mainstream variety, Queen to Play (Joueuse, in the original French) is a smart, small but intensely enjoyable movie -- one that I think would draw the kind of satisfied, word-of-mouth audience that made The Grocer's Son a surprise arthouse hit.

It stars a fine actress -- one who is consistently popular with this particular audience -- Sandrine Bonnaire (Angel of Mine, Intimate Strangers, Vagabond, Her Name is Sabine) and our own Kevin Kline (doing his first full-out French-language role), with help from Jennifer Beals (looking gorgeous in a small but pivotal role) and French hunk Francis Renaud (The Code, Chrysalis), who brings great warmth and humanity to Bonnaire's confused husband. Written and directed by Caroline Bottaro, a newcomer who has previously directed only one 15-minute short, the...

The New: Chess, Trolls, and Privileged Parents Some great movies you might have missed during their recent arthouse runs are making their way to DVD, most notably the charming French import Queen to Play (Zeitgeist Video; now available), which stars Sandrine Bonnaire as a Corsican housekeeper whose life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers she has a flair for chess. We’ve seen this kind of middle-aged-blossoming story before, but Bonnaire and writer-director Caroline Bottaro (adapting a novel by Bertina Henrichs) give the tale some unexpected twists. The film also gets a boost from supporting player Kevin Kline — performing the entire role en français — and cinematographer Jean-Claude Larrieu (Elegy), who deserves some sort of kickback from the...

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The New: Chess, Trolls, and Privileged Parents Some great movies you might have missed during their recent arthouse runs are making their way to DVD, most notably the charming French import Queen to Play (Zeitgeist Video; now available), which stars Sandrine Bonnaire as a Corsican housekeeper whose life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers she has a flair for chess. We’ve seen this kind of middle-aged-blossoming story before, but Bonnaire and writer-director Caroline Bottaro (adapting a novel by Bertina Henrichs) give the tale some unexpected twists. The film also gets a boost from supporting player Kevin Kline — performing the entire role en français — and cinematographer Jean-Claude Larrieu (Elegy), who deserves some sort of kickback from the...

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Rank the week of August 16th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Jane Eyre

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #3143

Win Percentage: 55%

Times Ranked: 1594

Top-20 Rankings: 7

Directed By: Cary Fukunaga

Starring: Mia Wasikowska • Michael Fassbender • Jamie Bell • Judi Dench • Imogen Poots

Genres: Drama • Gothic Film • Mystery • Period Film • Romance • Romantic Drama • Romantic Mystery

Rank This Movie

Something Borrowed

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #8753

Win Percentage: 40%

Times Ranked: 456

Top-20 Rankings: 3

Directed By: Luke Greenfield

Starring: Kate Hudson • Ginnifer Goodwin • John Krasinski • Colin Egglesfield • Steve Howey

Genres: Comedy • Comedy Drama • Drama • Romance • Romantic Comedy • Romantic Drama

Rank This Movie

Priest

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #6278

Win Percentage: 43%

Times Ranked: 1274

Top-20 Rankings: 5

Directed By: Scott Charles Stewart

Starring: Paul Bettany • Karl Urban • Cam Gigandet • Maggie Q • Lily Collins

Genres: Action • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Horror • Monster Film • Religious Horror • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Action • Sci-Fi Horror • Supernatural Horror...

Zeitgeist will release the 2009 French comedy-drama Queen to Play, concerning a middle-age hotel maid who attempts to reinvent herself via the game of chess, on DVD on Aug. 16.

Kevin Kline teaches Sandrine Bonnaire the ins and outs of chess in Queen to Play.

In the independent film, Helene (Sandrine Bonnaire, La Ceremonie), a maid in a chic Corsican hotel, spots a couple playing a sensual game of chess on their balcony, and finds herself aroused. She attempts to fire up the desire of her husband Ande (Francis Renaud) by presenting him with an electronic chessboard but is met with bafflement.

Still captivated by the game, Helene convinces a reclusive American ex-patriot, Dr. Kroger (No Strings Attached‘s Kevin Kline, in a French-speaking role!) to instruct her in the ins and outs of the game. As her talent at chess emerges, Helene finds herself torn between her family and her new-found obsession with the game.

Caroline Bottaro.s film, Queen to Play is a graceful film exploring one woman.s unexpected passion for the medium of chess.  Set in the scenic countryside of Corsica, the film is cinematographically arresting with long panning shots of the mountains and seaside accompanied by an intriguing musical score.  Much like its main character, the film is quiet, thoughtful and perceptive.

Sandrine Bonnaire, plays Hélène, a woman working as a chambermaid in order to help make ends meet for her husband (played by Francis Renaud) and teenaged daughter (played by Alexandra Gentil).  It is during one of her room checks at a local inn that she first witnesses a missing element in her life: passion.  In attending to her cleaning, she can.t help but be mesmerized by an attractive couple kissing and playing chess together on a balcony.  Inspired by their passionate display of affection, she stops in at...

Chess as romance could go places but there are not enough moves here for a full game. Caroline Bottaro pulled the rabbit out of the hat in getting acting icons Sandrine Bonnaire and Kevin Kline to star in her debut feature film .Queen to Play.. The film is a modest exercise in personality development on the part of Bonnaire playing the part of Helene. Kline plays reclusive intellectual Dr. Kroger who is able to move beyond his emotional stasis with the help of Helene. The cinematography is lush and full of the countryside and the sets and costumes match perfectly. If anything, the film is a bit too sure of itself. Bonnaire does her best to do the heavy...

Director: Caroline Bottaro Writer(s): Caroline Bottaro Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud Chess is often thought of -- quite wrongly, I might add -- as a man’s game, yet the most powerful and weakest pieces on the board are the queen and king, respectively. So with Queen to Play, writer-director Caroline Bottaro’s fixates on the power of the queen in order to create a female empowerment manifesto…of sorts. Hélène (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a middle-aged chambermaid who works in a swank hotel on the island of Corsica. While cleaning an American couple’s (Jennifer Beals and Dominic Gould) guest room, she eyes the couple playing chess on the balcony. In their sophisticated hands the game is incredibly sensual – and bourgeois to boot – and Hélène visibly craves to be more like them. Hélène’s husband, Ange (Francis Renaud), is a shipyard builder who is struggling in the current economic climate.

There’s something to be said about a good sports movie. They often have the most tired formulas, and easily devolve into sap and lazy storytelling, but when done right their predictable structures feel less-paint-by numbers and more like the comfort of a familiar friend. But there are two characteristics of writer/director Caroline Bottaro’s debut feature Queen to Play that don’t automatically denote a generic sports movie: it’s French, and it’s about chess. However, Bottaro uses the formula to such an advantage that it feels like sleight of hand as she delivers a film that’s simple but engrossing, one that’s familiar but slyly touching. Helene (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a working class mother. She cleans apartments and hotel rooms for a living. Her husband Ange (Francis Renaud) is a day laborer who sees his friends getting laid off left and right and is a afraid that he’ll be the next...

Your introduction 4 sentences --- U.S Indie  Cat Run - john Stockwell text - looks like crap : 00% : 00.0% Insidious - James Wan - FilmDistrict text - Tiff  : 00% : 00.0% Super - James Gunn - IFC Films text - Tiff NY/L.A : 00% : 00.0% Trust - Millennium Films - Millennium Films text - Was shown at Tiff last year : 00% : 00.0% Two Gates of Sleep - Alistair Banks Griffin - Factory 25 text - Cannes - amazing film -- Re-run theatre in NYC : 00% : 00.0% Wrecked - Michael Greenspan - IFC Midnight text - one theatre in ny : 00% : 00.0% Foreign In a Better World - Susanne Bier - Sony Pictures Classics text - Oscar! NY/L.A : 00% : 00.0% Queen to Play Caroline Bottaro - Zeitgeist text - plus wide/limited or NY/L.A  : 00% : 00.0% Rubber - Quentin Dupieux - Magnet Releasing text - Cannes and genre...

At the start of Caroline Bottaro’s drama Queen To Play, Corsican maid Sandrine Bonnaire is cleaning a hotel room when she sees a glamorous-looking American woman (played by glamorous-looking American actress Jennifer Beals) wearing a slinky nightgown while playing chess on her balcony with her lover. The romance of the scene proves so powerful that Bonnaire can’t get it out of her head. So she tries to recreate it. She swipes the nightgown, and buys her working-class husband Francis Renaud an electronic chess set for his birthday. And when he shows no interest in either her seduction techniques ...

Reviewed by Bob Hill

(March 2011)

Directed/Written by: Caroline Bottaro

Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline and Jennifer Beals

It’s never too late to learn how to play the game.

So goes the central theme of French director Caroline Bottaro’s “Queen to Play” — a beautifully crafted film that hinges upon an ongoing series of chess-life metaphors.

Rules aren’t nearly as important as exceptions. The threat is always stronger than the execution. Learning to respect your opponents is just as important as forcing them to respect you. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board.

Bottaro manages to incorporate all these lessons seamlessly via a series of evolving chess matches between a French chambermaid named Hélène (Sandrine Bonnaire) and her employer, Dr. Kröger (Kevin Kline).

This is Kline’s first full-length French role, a transition that required the assistance of a language coach, a dialect coach and...

Reviewed by Bob Hill

(March 2011)

Directed/Written by: Caroline Bottaro

Starring: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline and Jennifer Beals

It’s never too late to learn how to play the game.

So goes the central theme of French director Caroline Bottaro’s “Queen to Play” — a beautifully crafted film that hinges upon an ongoing series of chess-life metaphors.

Rules aren’t nearly as important as exceptions. The threat is always stronger than the execution. Learning to respect your opponents is just as important as forcing them to respect you. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board.

Bottaro manages to incorporate all these lessons seamlessly via a series of evolving chess matches between a French chambermaid named Hélène (Sandrine Bonnaire) and her employer, Dr. Kröger (Kevin Kline).

This is Kline’s first full-length French role, a transition that required the assistance of a language coach, a dialect coach and...

Chess has been around for a while, so we can safely assume it's a great game. But is chess better than sex? Bobby Fischer might have thought so and so do some folks in "Queen to Play," Caroline Bottaro's freshman feature-length entry, one that finds Kevin Kline as we have never before seen him. Based on Bertina Henrichs' novel, "The Chess Player" and adapted for the screen by the director, "Joueuse" (French for "player") takes place on the beautiful island of Corsica, a location that its principal character had never thought of leaving (and for which a lot of people would have been better off if Napoleon thought the same way).

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? The Return of Uncle Benon Trailer Clear your schedules, clear your mind, and prepare to be unwillingly beaten into aural submission by the trailer for this film.

Review by Dana Jung

Obsession is a funny thing. In love, it can lead to heartbreak and despair. But in other ways, it can be a positive force, such as a country’s obsession with putting a man on the moon, or in finding a cure for cancer. In the French film Queen At Play (Joueuse), one woman’s obsession results in a wonderfully rich character study.

Helene is a seemingly ordinary woman living an ordinary life. She works two jobs as a maid to support her modest home and family, a pleasant if somewhat dull husband and slightly spoiled teenage daughter. For Helene, every day is the same: monotonous and unexciting. Then, one day at work she enters a room to do her housekeeping chores and, to her surprise, finds the couple renting the room out on the balcony. At first, they are unaware of her, and she has...

Photos from Brighton Rock, The Conspirator, The Fighter, Dwayne Johnson on the set of Fast Five and concept art of Kilowog in Green Lantern.

Posters for The Town, Due Date, The Tempest, Monsters, Buried, Piranha 3D, Hideaway and the Back to the Future re-release.

Jennifer Lawrence is keenly pursuing the lead role in "Craxy Heart" director Scott Cooper's potential next film, an adaptation of William Styron's Southern family-drama "Lie Down In Darkness"..." ( full details)

There's rumors that Ben Affleck will play the lead role in Terrence Malick's next project which already has the likes Christian Bale, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams, and Olga Kurylenko rumoured to be involved. Malick is currently in post-production on "The Tree of Life"..." ( full details)

"Zeitgeist Films has scored the U.S. rights to Caroline Bottaro's film "Queen to Play" and will release the French language film early next year…" (full details...

Zeitgeist Films has acquired U.S. rights to Caroline Bottaro's "Queen to Play" (Jouese), which it plans to release theatrically early next year.

"Queen," a French-language drama set in Corsica, stars Sandrine Bonnaire and Kevin Kline as a working class wife and mother with a passion for chess and her American employer.

Produced by Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller, the film premiered at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

Zeitgeist co-president Emily Russo negotiated the deal with Studio Canal's Anna Marsh.

I was frustrated when I arrived for my scheduled interview with Miguel Littin only to be advised that the interview had to be postponed due to a family emergency in Chile requiring Littin to leave for Palm Springs a day later. So with a two-hour time block at my disposal, I decided to take advantage of the press lounge. Chance morphed into opportunity when Liberation Entertainment's Director of Operations Zach Hunchar and filmmaker Caroline Bottaro sat down next to me. Eavesdropping (behind the ruse of reading Variety), I gathered that Bottaro's film Joueuse (Queen to Play, 2009) would be screening that evening and so I introduced myself and invited her--in effect--to convince me to change my schedule to catch her film instead.

 ...

The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced this year.s award winners. From January 5th to the 18th, the festival has screened 189 films from 70 countries, 40 of the 65 foreign language entries for this year's Academy Awards.

And the winners are:

Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Runner Up: The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature: The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

Runner Up: Inside Hana's Suitcase

Fipresci Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Involuntary

Fipresci Award for Best Actor: Tedo Bekhauri, The Other Bank

Fipresci Award for Best Actress: Anne Dorval, I Killed My Mother

Bridging the Borders Award: Letters to Father Jacob

New Voices/New Visions Award: A Brand New Life

Honorable Mention: Devil's Town

John Schlesinger Award for Outstanding First Feature:

Haim Tabakman,...

Audiences at the 21st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which concludes Monday, honored Niels Arden Oplev's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," an adaptation of Stieg Larsson's mystery novel, with the fest's Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith.

The runner-up film for best narrative feature was "The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner." In the doc field, the runner-up was "Inside Hana's Suitcase."

A jury of international film critics reviewed the official Oscar foreign-language film submissions that screened at the fest and presented the Fipresci Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year to Sweden's entry, Ruben Ostlund's comedy "Involuntary."

Tedo Bekhauri received the Fipresci Award for Best Actor for his performance in "The Other Bank,...

The Vancouver International Film Festival closed out its run for 2009 on Friday, Oct. 16 with a gala screening of French director Caroline Bottaro's Queen to Play (Joueuse). 

I was happy with the range of films I was able to screen and review (with the sole exception of the awful Forbidden Door). 

There were a few that were on my list, though, that scheduling conflicts prevented my from seeing.

Chief among them the new film from Canadian director Atom Egoyan, Chloe. A good sign, though, that it was so popular that its two screenings sold out.

I had also hoped to catch the Wilco concert film, Ashes of American Flags. I'm a big fan of Jeff Tweedy and his band. 

I'm also disappointed that I ended up missing Roceterrania, a documentary film about Renaldo Kuhler, an artist who has, over the years, created an entire imaginary world that exists along the...

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) concluded its 16-day run today with the closing gala screening of director Caroline Bottaro's Queen To Play, in the Visa Screening Room @ the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas, Vancouver. Director Bottaro was present to introduce the film to the audience. The winners of three juried awards and five audience awards were announced prior to the screening; a fourth juried award was announced previously. Juried Awards: Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: The jury for the Canadian Images program awarded the inaugural Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film and its $20,000 cash prize to director Xavier Dolan of Montreal for the feature I Killed My Mother (J.ai tué ma mere). The winner was selected from 19 films in competition. The jury included Vancouver-based actor, writer, Ben Ratner, filmmaker Lynne "Kissed" Stopkewich, and producer/writer Kevin Tierney. Robyn Rudolph of Global Television presented the award on behalf of Canwest.

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) will be held October 1-16, 2009. Founded in 1982, Viff's mandate is "...to encourage the understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada..." Over 150,000 people are expected to attend 640 screenings of 360 films from 80 countries. Here is an up-to-date list of directors, confirmed to attend Viff 2009, along with their films : "1428" Du Haibin "1999" Lenin Sivam "65_RedRoses" Philip Lyall & Nimisha Mukerji "Adelaide" Liliana Greenfield-Sanders "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector" Vikram Jayanti "Ana & Arthur" Larry Young "The Anchorage" Anders Edström & Curtis Winter "Antoine" Laura Bari "Argippo Resurrected" Dan Krames "The Art of Drowning" Diego Maclean "At Home By Myself... With You" Kris Booth "At The Edge Of The World" Dan Stone...

• European and French-language heavyweight Studiocanal (a production co. and theatrical release company) comes to Cannes with plenty of auteur-driven ammo. They have Robert Guediguian's The Army of Crime (L'Armee du crime) in a non-competitive slot and Nassim Amaouche's debut film Farewell Gary (Adieu Gary) is competing in the Critic's Week section. They'll be starting up sales for Atom Egoyan's latest film Chloe (see poster premiere here) which should receive a logical festival release at Venice and/or Toronto. Here is their slate of titles available.: And Soon The Darkness by Marcos Efron – Post-Production Around The World In 50 Years by Ben Stassen - Production Chloe by Atom Egoyan - Post-Production Cotton by Daniel Stamm - Pre-Production The Army Of Crime (L'armee Du Crime) by Robert Guediguian - Completed Baby(Ies) by Thomas Balmes - Post-Production Blame It On Mum (Quelque Chose A Te Dire) by Cécile Telerman -

...

Editors Note: Below are the links to a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “Transcendent Man” Director/Producers Barry and Felicia Ptolemy “Queen to Play” Director Caroline Bottaro “Which Way Home” Director Rebecca Cammisa “Guy and Madeline on a …...

Editors Note: Below are the links to a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “Transcendent Man” Director/Producers Barry and Felicia Ptolemy “Queen to Play” Director Caroline Bottaro “Which Way Home” Director Rebecca Cammisa “Guy and Madeline on a …...

Editor’s Note: This is one of several interviews, conducted via email, with directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. “Queen to Play” Director: Caroline Bottaro Screenwriters: Caroline Bottaro, Caroline Maly, Jeanne Le Guillou Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals, Valérie Lagrange, Alexandra Gentil Synopsis: An inquisitive French Riviera hotel maid (Sandrine Bonnaire) becomes entranced by a vacationing couple (Jennifer Beals, Dominic Gould) as they …...

Editor’s Note: This is one of several interviews, conducted via email, with directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. “Queen to Play” Director: Caroline Bottaro Screenwriters: Caroline Bottaro, Caroline Maly, Jeanne Le Guillou Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals, Valérie Lagrange, Alexandra Gentil Synopsis: An inquisitive French Riviera hotel maid (Sandrine Bonnaire) becomes entranced by a vacationing couple (Jennifer Beals, Dominic Gould) as they …...

Editors Note: Below are the links to a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “Transcendent Man” Director/Producers Barry and Felicia Ptolemy “Queen to Play” Director Caroline Bottaro “Which Way Home” Director Rebecca Cammisa “Guy and Madeline on a …...

Editors Note: Below are the links to a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling directors whose films are screening at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival in the narrative and doc competitions as well as the Discovery section. The festival takes place April 22 - May 3. “Transcendent Man” Director/Producers Barry and Felicia Ptolemy “Queen to Play” Director Caroline Bottaro “Which Way Home” Director Rebecca Cammisa “Guy and Madeline on a …...

I know it looks dire as it's 28% lighter (at least so far) and minus an artistic director, but no fear, there's still more to come, and with what's been announced theirs some interesting sounding stuff, especially a film we wrote about briefly called Accidents Happen. Also premiering is the comedy Stay Cool and the Danish film Original, along with the North American premier of The Exploding Girl which we also wrote about.

Check the narrative features, world documentary, and discovery lineups after the break!

World Narrative Feature Competition

A compelling cross-section of bold creative visions from every corner of the globe come together in this year’s World Narrative Feature Competition. Presenting a diverse array of unique voices, this international film collection includes premieres from a wide range of directors, such as U.S. indie veterans the Polish brothers and Tony-nominated Conor McPherson, as well as exciting newcomers. Together, these...

The Tribeca Film Festival has unveiled its competition and discovery sections, revealing a streamlined but nonetheless eclectic list for its eighth annual edition.

In its competition section, the springtime fest will see a host of noted filmmakers mix with newer talents. Acclaimed playwright Conor McPherson will world premiere "The Eclipse," a drama about a widower prone to supernatural visions that stars Aidan Quinn, while indie stalwarts the Polish brothers will debut "Stay Cool," their high-school reunion dramedy that stars Winona Ryder.

Meanwhile, indie faves like Amir Naderi will return with dramas like "Vegas: Based on a True Story," while emerging Norweigan director Rune Denstad Langlo will mark the North American premiere at the fest of his "North," a comedy about a former ski champion who endures a mental breakdown.

"We think this slate plays to the strengths of the festival, which is a mix of foreign films and more recreational...

Jennifer Beals has joined the cast of "The Book of Eli," the action thriller from Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment which Albert and Allen Hughes are directing. She joins Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis and Ray Stevenson. The apocalypse has happened. Now, set in the U.S., one hero called Eli (Denzel Washington) must travel alone throughout this wasteland in order to protect a tome that may very well be the key to humanity's survival. Ray Stevenson will play an enforcer sent  to kill Eli. Beals plays Kunis' blind mother who does all possible in order to protect her child. The script is by Gary Whitta with a rewrite by Anthony Peckham. Beals in in post-production for Caroline Bottaro's "Joueuse" with Kevin Kline, Sandrine Bonnaire and Dominic Gould. Kunis was last seen alongside Mark Wahlberg in 2008's "Max Payne" as well as in the successful comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall...

NEW YORK -- In his first French-speaking role, Kevin Kline will star with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro's drama Joueuse (Queen to Play).

Bonnaire plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple (Beals and Francis Renaud) playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. The doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.

Kline courted Meg Ryan as a Parisian in French Kiss, but this is his first role in a French production.

"He speaks good French, better than John Malkovich," said Michel Feller, who is producing the film with Dominique Besnehard for Mon Voisin Prods. and Blue Print Film's Amelie Latcha.

Joueuse is a France-Germany co-production with France 2 and Studio Canal, with the participation of Canal +, CNC, Eurimages, Cinecinema, Telemunchen-Concorde and the Collectivite Territoriale de Corse. Jean-Philippe Laroche is the executive producer.