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The Luzhin Defence. Dir. Maureen Gorris. Columbia Tristar. Release March, 2002.

It is a rather daunting task to adapt Nabokov's writings for the screen. After all, the novelist's best works rely primarily on slow and intricate plot development and on a subtle mastery of language and allusion. These two aspects are not easily translated to the standard two or three hour major motion picture and leave filmmakers with the tough decision between attempting to integrate these elements into the film or radi­ cally altering the narrative into a more film-friendly storyline. One of the more recent attempts to bring Nabokov's works to cinema, Adrian Lyne's Lolita, attempted to dis­ play as much fidelity to this latter point—and its source material in general—by omit­ ting only small segment's of the novel's action and including long verbatim quotations from the novel in narration and dialogue. In adapting Nabokov's Zaschita Luzhina (known in English translation as The Defense), Dutch director (Mrs. Dalloway, Antonia's Line) takes the opposite approach, changing everything from the setting and sequence of the story to its primary focus and conclusion. The basics of the plot are still intact: eccentric Russian master Luzhin (John Turturro) arrives for the world chess championship and quickly falls in love with vacationing Russian aristocrat Natalia ( in an uncharacteristically low-key performance). The two quickly become en- 192 Aethlon XX:2 / Spring 2003 Book Reviews

gaged and the remainder of the story relates Luzhin's attempt to win the championship while slowly losing his grasp on reality. However, although the novel was primarily related through the fractured view of Luzhin and overwhelmingly concerned with his madness and genius (imbricated in his obsession with chess), Gorris' The Luzhin De­ fence is preoccupied with the relationship between Luzhin and Natalia. Indeed the pres­ ence and importance of Natalia is enlarged to such a degree that the new ending scripted by Peter Berry continues to depict her actions—and ultimate triumph over Luzhin's adversary—long after Luzhin commits suicide. Only the most naive viewer would be surprised that a film has significantly diverged from its source material—and at the time of the film's theater release Gorris was very open about her relative unfamiliarity with Nabokov's work and preference for Berry's script over the novel—but what is tmly upsetting about the Luzhin Defence is how these changes eliminate the originality and complexity of Nabokov's tale. In the novel, nei­ ther Natalia nor Luzhin are proven to be truly in love with the other; Luzhin is attracted to Natalia because she reminds him of a whore he once saw, and Natalia is truly un­ aware of Luzhin's complex madness and is drawn to him because of her natural dispo­ sition toward pitiable creatures. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing these filmmakers was making Luzhin into a more romantic character. In Gorris' adaptation, Luzhin is transformed from a troubled genius to a "lovable crazy" replete with Chaplinesque mannerisms. Similarly, attempts are made to inject some libido into Nabokov's rela­ tively asexual hero. This impulse is particularly noticeable in a rather unfortunate se­ quence that cuts scenes of Luzhin playing chess and alone plotting strategy with depic­ tions of him having sex with Natalia, culminating (naturally) in a near simultaneous orgasm/. Even more disturbing is the emphasis placed on Luzhin's childhood and early life and their possible connections to his current insanity. In flashbacks, Luzhin is shown being abandoned by his mother (who commits suicide), his father and aunt (who are having an affair and transfer guardianship of young Luzhin to the scheming Valentinov), and by Valentinov (who abandons him during a losing streak). Although many of these sequences are in the novel, the decision to foreground and in some cases radically alter the action of these events simplifies the complexity of Luzhin's delusion. Nabokov's intricate depiction of madness is reduced to a bubblegum version of Freud: Luzhin is tormented, obsessive, and incapable of success because his parents (and parent figures) did not love him. This move from existential dynamics to pop psychology is emblem­ atic of how the film operates as a whole—it eschews a complex and challenging narra­ tive in favor of an unremarkable and rather formulaic Hollywood romance. Jeff Pruchnic