How The Queen s Gambit makes all the right moves
“I am both delighted and dazed by Queen’s the response,” Gambit had Scott become Frank said the ited landing In most series on the the on popular four in the news Netflix weeks streaming that scripted history. since The ser- limvice, watched scribers, countries, the drama ranked by and 62-million come has at No been within 1 sub- in 63 the top mony For 10 that in all 92. the attended pomp and its arrival cerelast new month, schedule the has real been hit of a gentle the adaptation Walter Tevis of about a 1983 an novel or- by phaned Harmon, chess and her prodigy, quest Beth to become the world champion.
Even Frank, the showrunner, co-creator and director of the series, seems astonished that it has been so successful.
A female-centred drama about a board game — are you kidding?
Rather like Alexei Shirov’s Jaw-Dropping Bishop Sacrifice in 1998, unanimously voted by the staff at Chess.com as being the greatest chess move, the show ’ s popularity has been dazzling. “Speaking for my fellow producers and the entire cast and crew of the show ... we are most grateful,” Frank said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Watching the lead actress,
Anya Taylor-Joy’s, saucer eyes as she mentally surveys another billion manoeuvres, I’m still not certain if The Queen’s
Gambit the cultural result is stimulation of a gripping being so I’m drama, starved now or of prepared But, what to watch the heck. paint dry.
The Queen’s Gambit ticks all sorts of themes that make it perfect 2020 viewing.
It is escapist: a blast of random foreign destinations — Kentucky, Cincinnati, Mexico City, Moscow — that transport us away to a succession of groovy spaces and mid-century hotels (in fact, the majority was shot in Berlin, which is exotic in itself).
It is ravishing — set in the 1950s and 1960s, and conceived by production designer
Uli Hanisch, every wallpaper pattern, textile and carpet has been so fetishistically considered that each frame looks like a work of retro art.
And it is well-dressed.
Not since Mad Men have so many women eulogised a wardrobe like the one worn by
Beth Harmon.
The costume designer, Gabriele Binder, has used a blend of plaid checks, sweaters,
Courrèges and Edie Sedgwick accents to create one of this year ’ s most influential styles. And then there is the chess itself.
Even if you do not understand a stroke of the game, The Queen’s Gambit still flatters our intelligence by allowing us insight into that world.
Now, everyone wants in on it.
This week, it was reported that year-on-year chess set sales have increased by more than 1,000% at the toy compa--------ny Goliath Games, and Google searches for “learn chess” have been spiking around the world.
There are also plans to televise more upcoming matches owing to its new position as a sexy glamour sport; though, if the line-up for the Skilling Open last month was anything to go by, you’ll have to be watching very, very hard.
The Queen’s Gambit is the perfect antidote to the grim and miserable coverage we have got used to.
This week alone, I have watched police brutality in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, the squalid dealings of a bunch of ashen-faced City trainees in Industry , and a disturbing documentary about the NXIVM sex cult.
The year’s most fashionable dramas have delighted in their examination of the filth of our existence.
By contrast, The Queen’s Gambit offers a panacea for our problems — you just need to make the winning move.
Yes, its heroine lost her mother as a small child, is mind-muddled with prescription drug use, single, slightly boozy and a tiny bit obsessive, but the drama rarely paints her as a victim.
And it is unquestionably charming.
The Queen’s Gambit has been a reminder that after the emotional suffering we have been exposed to, what audiences really want at this moment is an old-fashioned bedtime story with a happy outcome at the end.
Didn’t they always? For all its intellectual premise, Beth Harmon is Cinderella with more guile and a great haircut.
She may be a pawn star but she’s pure fairytale heroine. — The Financial Times