> Switch to Advanced Search

Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Luzhin Defence, The
Sony Pictures Classics


9.0

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 1 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sensuality and thematic elements

Starring John Turturro, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, Stuart Wilson, and Christopher Thompson

Based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel of the same name, this film examines the effects of love and obsession, and how two passions could tear a man apart. (Sony Pictures Classics)

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Berry Vladimir Nabokov (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Marleen Gorris
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 18, 2001 Video: September 18, 2001 Theatrical: April 20, 2001
RUNNING TIME:	108 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	UK / France

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

I can't think of another movie that more fluently communicates the special agony and ecstasy of the game of chess.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Moves with fluidity and ease through brisk opening conventions to a perfectly poised and balanced endgame.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Carefully made, involving and old-fashioned, the superior work it's inspired gives it an impact that lingers even when the endgame is over.

Entertainment Weekly Ty Burr

Fine candy for mind and eye.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Where it succeeds best is not in describing how Luzhin got broken but how love fixed him, albeit temporarily.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

A smart, romantic, heartbreaking pleasure.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Watson's character grows in importance until she eclipses the recessive Luzhin.

Chicago Tribune Michael 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.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

One of our best actors, Turturro surpasses his past fine work as Alexander Luzhin.

Film.com Peter 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.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

John Turturro, who, given the most romantic role of his career, fully inhabits the ungainly Luzhin.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The stage is set for a wonderful movie, and yet The Luzhin Defence, based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel The Defense, never courts greatness.

Variety Derek Elley

A smoothly made period romancer that's elevated by strong playing from its whole cast, led by John Turturro and Emily Watson as the starstruck lovers.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film is elegiac and sad, beautifully mounted, but not as compelling as it should be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Falls short of being totally absorbing and compelling.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Turturro's Luzhin is a cinematic soulmate of Dustin Hoffman's Rain Man and Geoffrey Rush's David Helfgott.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Handsome and well-acted, yet it can't hold a pawn to Nabokov's harrowing and moving character study.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

An attractive, intelligent film that's intractably at odds with itself.

New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob 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.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The film's dark heart is Valentinov's mephistophelean scheming: He sets about sabotaging his former protégé's game for no apparent reason except sheer malice.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Fails to score a checkmate.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Capable but not transporting, never unraveling the mystery of its hero's genius or, worse, making us care enough to look deeper.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Might be for you. Or you might be bored anyway.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

It's one of those period dramas about upper-crust Europeans in vacation resorts, which at first we think we've seen a million times before.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

A punishing tragedy that could best be described as the anti-"Shine."

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Susan Q. gave it a 9:
I liked this movie a lot. The end bothered me a little because it seems like Hollywood can't make a movie without a nice little ending wrapped in a bow.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Luzhin Defence, The Sony Pictures Classics

Luzhin Defence, The
Sony Pictures Classics