Worth the wait: Sandrine Bonnaire & Kevin Kline in Caroline Bottaro's QUEEN TO PLAY

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), which will open this Friday after making its American debut two years ago at the Tribeca Film Festival, 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 (above, right), a newcomer who has previously directed only one 15-minute short, the movie deftly juggles intelligence and emotion, plot and theme, bringing everything home to rest in thoroughly winning fashion without, thankfully, overplaying anything.

Ms. Bonnaire, above, essays the role of Hélène, a cleaning lady capable of a good deal more than washing and wiping. (Another under-used cleaning woman named Seraphine walked away with that same year's Cesar for best film and best actress: Has France an untapped resource in its femmes de ménage?) One day, as Hélène cleans a room, the inhabitants of which are out on the terrace, she becomes fascinated while watching through windblown curtains as the pair plays chess. This fascination grows even more in the home of another of her clients (Professor Kröger, played by Kline) who also enjoys the game.

Chess has had a long, if checkered, history in cinema -- from a classic like The Seventh Seal to one of the worst movies ever to win a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar (Dangerous Moves) to the somewhat obvious and disappointing Searching for Bobby Fischer and that pivotal scene in the original (and quite pretentious: the remake was so much more fun) Thomas Crown Affair. In the annals of chess-on-film, Queen to Play may be among the best, due to Ms Bottaro's ability to suggest an idea rather than bat us over the head with it. What draws Hélène to this game? It probably has to do with the way in which she, as a woman, can relate to her male partner while playing. This will come to effect her relationship with her husband, her client (Mr. Kline's professor) and finally some other important men. As I say, all of this is merely suggested, as is so much else in the movie. But mulling over Bottaro's many "suggestions" adds immensely to our pleasure.

Also at work here is an idea similar to what riveted audiences to that great movie Babe. Rather than watching a pig being told that he cannot do something for which he is clearly talented but lacks the canine qualifications, we see a woman begin to excel at a man's game -- and then pay for it. This, of course, sends out all sorts of feminist feelers (not to mention the issue of class: the couple's daughter brings this to the fore), but fortunately Ms Bottaro allows nothing to go too far. Her discretion graces everything from sex to terminal illness. She possesses a remarkable ability to give us just enough information and/or visuals; this, coupled to the European sensibility not to pry, allows certain moments to skirt sentimentality but quickly settle back into sense and strength.

Ms Bonnaire is just splendid: Her ability to hold so much inside (while making us aware of every scrap of it) is a joy to observe. She manages great acting with as few flourishes as anyone else performing today. Kline (shown two photos above) is gruff, bearded, and still as sexy and intelligent as ever. He ought to have had a better film career, but perhaps he will start working in French (or Italian? Spanish? Why not!). Beals (above) continues to enchant -- more now than back in those Flashdance days -- and I will look forward with great anticipation to seeing M. Renaud (shown below) again soon.

Until last evening, when I watched the film again, it had been two full years since I first saw it and wrote about it (that review, pretty much in its entirety, appears above).  I am happy to say that I feel as strongly now as I did then that this is an exceptional film.  The only things I should have mention earlier are the simply gorgeous scenery on view (the film takes place at seacoast/cliffside town that should get a lot of American tourists, post-viewing), with cinematography is by Jean-Claude Larrieu, and the lovely, never-intrusive musical score by Nicola Piovani.

Queen to Play, for which we owe a thank-you to its distributor Zeitgeist Films, opens this Friday, April 1, in New York City (Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Angelika Film Center) and in Los Angeles area (at various sites), with a nationwide roll-out to follow. Click here for all playdates -- cities, dates and theaters -- across the country.

THE EXTRA MAN -- from Berman, Pulcini and Ames -- revels in urban eccentricity

American eccentrics overflow the work of film-making duo Shari Springer Berman (shown below, left) and Robert Pulcini (below, right), from what you might call the eccentric celebrity-dining pictured in their 1997 debut film Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's to their masterpiece -- one of the greatest and most original movies this country has produced -- American Splendor. Even their so-so, somewhat misfired adaptation of The Nanny Diaries was saved by the eccentricities of its lead character (and the fine performance by Laura Linney, an actress who finds the latent oddities in all her characters).  Berman and Pulcini seem more than intrigued by and attracted to the oddballs among us; they actually champion them.

So it is with their latest venture, THE EXTRA MAN, set in New York City among very possibly the most eccentric group of people I have seen in a single film (unless that film was set in a mental institution).  Our hero(ine) Louis, played by Paul Dano (shown below), is a young man attracted to but as yet untutored in the art of cross-dressing, who comes to the city from a school-teaching job in Princeton, planning to become a writer modeled somewhat on F. Scott Fitzgerald and two of his characters.   The opening scene and credit sequence, beautifully done, introduces us to those two characters with a very effective and funny jolt.

Once in New York City, Louis becomes involved with one, Henry Harrison, played by Kevin Kline (below), a prime oddball who seems to live by his wits, acting as the "extra man" of the title by escorting wealthy and eccentric (don't those two words go together more often than not?) widows of Manhattan society out and about. Aside from the boss of the "green" publishing house where Louis lands a job, and one of his co-workers (played by Katie Homes), just about everyone we meet in this strange little movie is utterly bizarre. Including Henry's downstairs neighbor, played by a bearded and bewigged John C. Reilly in near-nutcase form (shown two photos below).

All this makes for some genuine laughs. For awhile. But eccentricity can be tricky: Show too much of it and a movie begins to feel unbalanced. When it's offered up in a manner like that of American Splendor -- so integral to the characters and situations on view -- it pulls us in and deepens our understanding. We come to inhabit the world of Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner (with Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis simply brilliant in their roles). The Extra Man, for all its odd situations, strange characters, and ample humor, fails to do this. We're always on the outside looking in and seldom feeling for or understanding the people we're viewing. 

Mr. Dano makes the best of the situation, partly because he is such an intuitive actor, particularly good at playing vulnerability.  His is also the character we know the most about.  Mr. Kline, on the other hand and for all his charm and verbal dexterity, is given a role in which he remains -- the filmmakers' intention, I would guess -- a mystery and thus little more than a collection of tics and oddities. He's fun, but he doesn't make us care about his character in the least.  Which makes Louis' choice at film's end something of a stretch. While our hero's decision makes a statement about the wonders of eccentricity and what he really wants out of life, I'm not sure that I buy it.

Among the supporting cast, Ms Homes, above, registers midway on the interest scale; her character seems to exist in order to convince Louis that he is better off alone and (yes) eccentric.  One of the treats of the film is  Marian Seldes, shown below with Mr. Dano and tarted up as you will seldom have seen her (so much so, in fact, that did not recognize her until reading the end credits).  Also appearing to good use are Celia Weston, as one of the hangers-on of the wealthy, and Patti D'Arbanville as an oddly low-key dominatrix who caters to the cross-dressing set.

TrustMovies admits that he was looking forward to this movie with great anticipation, which may be adding to his disappointment -- which is unfair to the filmmakers.  Still, as writer/directors, with screen-writing help from the man who wrote the novel upon which the film is based, Jonathan Ames, Berman and Pulcini have managed to show us a very peculiar New York world, while failing to enter it at all fully.  I liked the film enough, however, to wonder if I might get more from a reading of Mr. Ames original novel.

The Extra Man, from Magnolia Pictures, opens theatrically on Friday, July 30, in New York City (of course!) at the Angelika Film Center and the Clearview First @ 62nd 7.  Further playdates, cities and theaters around the country can be found here.  And if all this does not put the movie near you, there is still hope: The film is currently showing On-Demand from many of our major TV-reception providers around the country.  Check yours for its availability.