DramaYear1985Duration1h 40mIMDb6.6

Dangerous Moves

DramaSportThriller

During the Cold War, the World Chess Championship clashed complete opposites - personal and political.

Trailer

Cast

RD

Richard Dembo

Director

Michel Piccoli

Akiva Liebskind

Alexandre Arbatt

Pavius Fromm

Liv Ullmann

Marina Fromm

Leslie Caron

Henia Liebskind

Wojciech Pszoniak

Le grand maître Felton - l'équipe de Fromm

Jean-Hugues Anglade

Miller, l'équipe de Fromm

Daniel Olbrychski

Tac-Tac, l'équipe de Liebskind

HS

Hubert Saint-Macary

Foldes

Michel Aumont

Stepan Ivanovitch Kerossian - l'équipe de Liebskind

PM

Pierre Michaël

Yachvili

SA

Serge Avedikian

Fadenko

PV

Pierre Vial

Anton Heller

Bernhard Wicki

Pühl

Jacques Boudet

Stuffli

Benoît Régent

Barabal

Sylvie Granotier

Dombert

AS

Albert Simono

Dalcroze

MT

Marcel Tassimot

Protazanov

RD

Richard Dembo

Writer

Comments

10 Comments

☑️Nov 23, 2025

Mysterylook®Nov 23, 2025

Nsoo7yNov 23, 2025

Shreya SitoulaMay 20, 2023

ErikaApr 28, 2023

I'm a chess player and somehow I imagine that the film will be about chess after reading the description. Well, the truth is that chess does show a little here and there; the chessboard and the game itself is very little shown and I considering that many people may not know chess is reasonable to keep a balance.. but they sincerely could have done better. The main characters are hard to like, due to little construction and the acting is way over the top with "Pavius"the young one. The personal dramas were interesting but presented in a sort of confusing way that there was not time to understand what was going on. Frankly, if you are interested in chess and films you may see it for curiosity but not for quality or entertainment. Chess is fascinating and Im sure that you could a good movie out of this one, maybe a remake?

kieran.GKApr 28, 2023

Two masters of chess duel each other not only in their game but also in their different ideologies. The veteran Akiva is a Soviet Jew and ferocious Communist, master of his game but also dealing with a declining health while the young and restless genius Pavius has defected to the West to escape from the Communist tentacles. I love that this is billed as the "thinking man's Rocky". First, this assumes that "Rocky" is not for thinking men, which is not necessarily true. It may not be high art, but it's still a good movie. But that aside, I find it interesting to compare a film about a boxer with one about chess players. Anyway, whether we accept that marketing or not, it really is a good film. I'm curious about how accurate the subtitles are (they notoriously changed "eight" to "ten" in an early scene) but even if the film was silent, it is quite visually appealing.

El AhnasApr 28, 2023

Finally, a close to perfect work. This film got it all. The conflict, thank God, can be read through more than one dimension. It's how to have rich drama, and be thought-provoking too. One can read it as a brilliant chapter in the cold war's time; the original Soviet communist vs. the Lithuanian enemy of the proletarian revolution. As if it's the eastern block vs. the western world. Then, it's a battle of minds between the old generation who believed in something and fought for it, and the young one who rebelled against the first, fighting for the opposite. So it is, as well, the wise old vs. the riotous young. The differences between the 2 main characters are catchy and well-made. One is mystic who loves to unite with nature (great scene, with only music, for him enjoying sailing; as if it's a spiritual fun). And the other is more materialistic, with hot pace and temper (enough to remember his leather jacket and motorcycle). I loved the pace, it's meditative and exciting in the same time; which is very hard to achieve by the way. Still the scene of seeking help by external factors to affect the players is smartly comic to the max; that Indian guru, who controls minds, is pure comedy. The 2 lead actors played their roles in iconic way if you will. However, nothing is better than the end of it. Simply, this film wins immortality by not relaying only on the cold war situation back then, yet it dives into deeper layer to make it essentially a conflict between just humans, who wants to assure themselves in the thing that they love. Notice well how it doesn't eventually choose a winner or a loser too, because the game is on and the conflict is forever between the older and the younger. It's how the film - so intelligently - will live for more and more, being suitable to watch anytime or anywhere; it outlived the cold war itself already. So, it is satisfying whether as politically, philosophically, or - and that's the most important - as a good effective drama in the first place; where you can watch it only as a thrilling movie about a crucial game of chess between the smartest 2 guys on earth. Naturally, this is one of the best films I have ever seen. Or in another word, this is how films must be made.

Dance God 🦅🇬🇭Apr 28, 2023

"Dangerous Moves" 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 Fromm's weird antics, it's not even certain that the match will take place. And, when it does, both players threaten to derail it repeatedly. The 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 film'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.

Sayed HameedApr 28, 2023

Geneva welcomes the 23rd world chess championship, which sees the confrontation of the Soviet citizen Michel Piccoli, unconquered for 12 years, with his young fellow countryman, now a refugee in the West, Alexandre Arbatt, winner (conqueror) of the " tournament of the candidates "... The chess is only an excuse for a political tussle, the real game taking place gently in the wings in an East-West confrontation. The whole thing is perhaps a little dated.

Atmarani MohantyApr 28, 2023

Disputing the world title of chess, sit down in chairs opposite two soviets. However, none of the two is Russian: one of them, the champion, is Jewish. The other, the challenger, is a Lithuanian, political exile that is refugee in another country. This game will be a mirror of the Cold War: each movement is dangerous, each play is strategically important. Who is the best? The communist Jew, obedient to the Soviet state, or the Lithuanian traitor, enemy of the proletarian revolution? A beautiful end, where the game in itself has, for both, a larger importance than the world title and they consequences. A good film, with reasonable tension, great representative of the rare Swiss movies.

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