La regina degli scacchi

I liked this movie from the very beginning. The pacing is quite slow, but the editing creates a dynamic feeling of doom, of hidden danger, not knowing exactly what it's all about.

Barbora Bobulova (Maria, the main character) is an excellent actress and she even grows more and more beautiful throughout the movie --she reminds me of a young Sissy Spacek-- and her private chess teacher is so good an actor that one believes to be watching a real character (Toni Bertorelli as Sterlizia, a known pedophile).

The only weak actress in this movie is Valeria D'Obici (Maria's mother), who bogs down all the scenes where she's in (fortunately not very many). The script is really excellent, it takes its time to develop the plot (a really interesting one, since it takes several turns, all of them totally unexpected and perfectly sound), at the beginning they explain that this story was taken from a real one, changing names and probably locations.

I found the background music a bit overwhelming several times and the great deal of raining on the outdoor scenes makes for a cozy feeling, if you like rainy days.

This film grows on you scene by scene, building up to a very satisfying end.

Very well thought out script. Claudia Florio, the director, directs with a firm hand, with not a single hesitation when placing the camera where it would get the most of every scene and every actor.