Luzhin is a chess grand master, tortured by his own genius and the cruelty of his upbringing, the man has disappeared entirely into the game and is now devoid of any social or even simple human interaction. At the Italian Lakes for a tournament Luzhin meets Natalia, A young woman whose family have already ordained her future; The two of them are drawn towards each other, but Luzhin has been so starved of any emotion other than chess, that it seems the fledgling couple are inevitably doomed. The Luzhin Defence is a deeply moving film, superlatively acted and beautifully observed.