THE LUZHIN DEFENCE

Directed by Marleen Gorris. Starring John Turturro, Emily Watson

Inexplicably subjected to a recent barrage of lukewarm-to-hostile reviews, The Luzhin Defence is, in my much-sought-after opinion, the single sweetest love story of the last five years or so, and mandatory viewing for anyone with a brain and a heart.

I was rendered speechless, smiling and skipping along the pavement for a good few hours afterwards - in spite of the film's undeniably harrowing content - and have still to fully recover. You will probably read a good deal of gunk about how morbid and depressing the whole affair is, but please trust me on this one: truly life-affirming, but without even the slightest trace of saccharine, Luzhin hits you in the solar plexus like few films in living memory.

Unfolding in a series of beautifully melancholic flashback sequences, The Luzhin Defence is most notable for John Turturro's stupendously magnificent leading turn as Aleksandr Luzhin, a virtually-autistic Russian chess genius whose entire existence is played out on a chessboard. As accomplished as Turturro's career to date has been, his performance still rips the breath from your lungs, and communicates more in a virtually silent performance than most actors could manage with a three-hour monologue. Throw the ever-tempestuous Emily Watson into the mix, and you're left with a chemistry that burns the screen to cinders - Leo diCrappio and Kate Winslet couldn't generate anything like this with a flame-thrower and a can of petrol.

Not that we're dealing with your average screen romance here: our hero has an extremely slender grasp of reality, and his bid to become world chess champ proves to be an escalating strain on what little sanity the guy possesses. Redemption, of a sort, arrives when he encounters visiting aristocrat Natalia (Watson) whose tiny act of kindness (she picks up a chesspiece that has fallen through one of the many holes in his pocket) prompts the fastest and most inarticulate marriage proposal ever committed to celluloid. Entranced, she accepts, and thus commences the most captivating screen affair since Alabama Worley sat down beside Clarence in True Romance.

Granted, our romantic protagonists are hardly as visually pre-possessing as Arquette and Slater, but this is a stunningly lush and gorgeous snow-drenched slice of impossible beauty, and a perfect date-movie for anyone with more than two brain-cells to rub together. To betray too many of the plot details would be an act of criminal insensitivity - but suffice to say Luzhin Defence packs a punch that will leave you reeling for days at least.

Do not miss.