Attention all nerds and former high-school science-club members: Finally, there is a movie that shares your belief that chess should be a magnet for hot babes and sex. The French drama Queen to Play (Joueuse) is more eloquent and dignified -- here, chess serves as a gateway for self-discovery -- although the end result is still sex.

After Helene (Sandrine Bonnaire), a frustrated housewife and maid, spies on a couple exchanging suggestive glances and flirtatious gestures over a chessboard, she runs home and buys her distant husband Ange (Francis Renaud) the game for his birthday. But Ange, a boat-yard worker beset by money woes, isn't interested. ``I hope it didn't cost too much,'' he mutters before tossing the gift aside.

So Helene starts tinkering with the electronic chess set, teaching herself to play and becoming increasingly obsessed with the game. Eventually, she summons the courage to ask one of her clients, the wealthy and hermetic Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline, speaking perfect French), if he will share his chess expertise.

Thus begins an unusual relationship fraught with a romantic and sexual tension writer-director Caroline Bottaro skillfully mines for dramatic suspense. The more time Helene spends with the doctor, the better she becomes at chess, but the more problems she encounters at home from her disapproving husband and rebellious daughter (Alexandra Gentil).

But at least Helene has finally found something to call her own. The idea of a maid's using chess as a vehicle for fulfillment may sound a bit hokey, but Queen to Play sells the concept so effectively it manages the mean feat of making the act of castling seem . . . well, sexy.

Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals, Alexandra Gentil, Jennifer Beals.

Writer-director: Caroline Bottaro.

Producers: Dominique Besnehard, Micher Feller, Amelie Latscha.

Running time: 101 minutes. In French with English subtitles. Vulgar language, adult themes. Plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. Nov. 1 at Cinema Paradiso.

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