Dangerous Moves

Dangerous Moves
Dangerous Moves
	Film poster
Directed by	Richard Dembo
Written by	Richard Dembo
Produced by	Arthur Cohn;
Starring	Michel Piccoli; ; Liv Ullmann
Cinematography	Raoul Coutard
Edited by	Agnès Guillemot
Music by	Gabriel Yared
Distributed by	Gaumont
Release date	25 April 1984;
Running time	110 minutes
Countries	France; Switzerland
Language	French
Box office	$2.5 million

Dangerous Moves (French: La Diagonale du fou) is a 1984 French-language film about chess, directed by Richard Dembo, produced by Arthur Cohn, starring Michel Piccoli, , as well as Liv Ullmann, Leslie Caron, and Bernhard Wicki in prominent supporting roles.

Its original French title is La diagonale du fou ("The Fool's Diagonal", referring to the chess piece called the bishop in English but the fool in French). The film was a co-production between companies in France and Switzerland. It tells the story of two very different men competing in the final match of the World Chess Championship. One is a 52-year-old Soviet Jew who holds the title, and the other is a 35-year-old genius who defected to the West several years earlier.

Cast[]

Michel Piccoli as Akiva Liebskind
as Pavius Fromm
Liv Ullmann as Marina Fromm
Leslie Caron as Henia Liebskind
Wojciech Pszoniak as Felton, Fromm's team
Jean-Hugues Anglade as Miller, Fromm's team
Daniel Olbrychski as Tac-Tac, Liebskind's friend
Hubert Saint-Macary as Foldes
Michel Aumont as Kerossian, Liebskind's friend
as Yachvili
Serge Avedikian as Fadenko
Pierre Vial as Anton Heller
Bernhard Wicki as Puhl, arbiter
Jacques Boudet as Stuffli
Benoît Régent as Barabal

Awards[]

The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1984;^[2] it was submitted by the Swiss government, and gave that nation its first Oscar win. It also won the Louis Delluc Prize, the and the César Award for Best Debut.