On August 5, a mere week ago, an intriguing movie opened in France: “Joueuse” (which translates into [female] “Player”). It takes place in Corsica and is about a cleaning woman who learns to play chess to escape her day-to-day existence. Sandrine Bonnaire plays the female lead. Corsica, chess, and Sandrine (not necessarily in that order)... how could I resist? Imagine my surprise, then, when I looked up the schedule and found out that the movie wasn’t playing in Cannes any more! The only place it was still showing around here was the”Variétés” in Nice, so naturally I went. Is it a great movie? Not really, but it’s good, and it even features Kevin Kline speaking passable French, so I enjoyed myself. Still, why can’t anyone make a movie that shows chess realistically? Oh well...