Drama · Thriller
French (La Diagonale du fou)
1984 · Directed by Richard Dembo · 100 min
A world chess championship is held in Geneva during the Cold War, between two men who could hardly be more different. Away from the board, politics, old loyalties and private pressures close in on both of them. A tense, quiet thriller in which the game is the stage for something larger.
Why it matters in cinema history
A late Cold War European art thriller that gave chess films a serious, political register, and one of the few Swiss-credited winners of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Watch with intention
Watch the match as a conflict of temperaments and histories, with the chess moves serving as the visible surface of it.
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