Duell ohne Gnade (1984)

Duell ohne Gnade: Directed by Richard Dembo. With Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, Liv Ullmann, Leslie Caron. During the Cold War, the World Chess Championship clashed complete opposites – personal and political.

“u0026quot;Dangerous Movesu0026quot; is a French film that in some ways is a fictionalization involving the chess champ, Bobby Fischer mixed with some Cold War dramatics. The film is about a long-anticipated match between a Russian Grand Champion (Liebskind) and a Russian expatriate Grand Champion (Fromm). Liebskind is older and ill–and he and the agents from his country are trying to hide this from everyone. Fromm is a nut-case (like Fischer)–very, very, very demanding and amazingly neurotic. Neither man likes the other and due to Frommu0026#39;s weird antics, itu0026#39;s not even certain that the match will take place. And, when it does, both players threaten to derail it repeatedly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is an interesting character study of two seriously disturbed and difficult to like men. I appreciated this, as most films feature more one-dimensional and predictable characters. However, many will blanch at the filmu0026#39;s slow pacing and that so much of the film takes place at the match–making it a hard-sell to most viewers–plus there is no hero to root for–just two very determined oddballs. It is very good but also for a very narrow audience. Worth seeing, though, if you are very patient or have a background working in mental health. Otherwise, there might just be some better French films you might want to see first.”