Kevin Kline studies the chess board in a scene from Joueuse, his first French movie, and the first in which he has to speak the language. (StudioCanal/Canadian Press)

Kevin Kline has always loved French movies — and a few years ago he hooked up with a French agent who sent him several scripts to read.

But it wasn't until the agent sent him the script for Joueuse, the Caroline Bottaro romance that opened Monday at the Montreal World Film Festival, that he made the commitment to working in France.

For Kline, an American actor known for comedic roles in films like A Fish Called Wanda and dramas such as Life as a House, Joueuse meant not only taking on a new role, but also polishing some rather rusty language skills.

In interviews Monday in Montreal, Kline gamely demonstrated his prowess in both Canada's official languages, saying he always wanted to be bilingual.

"It's a vain hope that it might make me different. If I change my hair, a different accent or a different way of moving — things that we call characterization in acting — [like] speaking another language, it would do something different. I was interested in the experience," he told CBC News.

He explained that he has a particular interest as an actor in the way a character uses words and his patterns of speech.

In Joueuse, Kline plays Dr. Kroger, a crusty American who has lived on the isle of Corsica for about 20 years. He is disengaged from life, until he begins to teach his housekeeper to play chess.

'Quiet passion'

"I was interested in the ambiguity, the subtlety the uniqueness of the love story played out across the chess board, among other things. It had passion, but it was a sort of quiet passion," he said.

"Like many European films it just resembled life a little more closely than a lot of Hollywood films that are purely escapist."

Kline had studied French in high school and always wished he could speak it more fluently.

"I'd studied it in high school but I really hadn't learned to speak it — I'd learned to read it, it's a very different thing," he said.

In French Kiss, the 1995 film in which he plays a French lothario who woos Meg Ryan, he was required to use some of those skills.

But Joueuse required a whole new level of fluency.

Enjoyed the atmosphere

"And then shooting the film for three or four months in France with a predominantly French crew, that was kind of immersion so I think that's where I began to learn it and then when this film was offered to me, I thought I could maybe go to the next level in terms of learning another language, which I always wanted to do," Kline said.

Kline also enjoyed the atmosphere of French movie-making.

"The process was unique and interesting and very pleasant. Just the way they make movies in France is different — the ambiance on the set, the approach," he said.

"It's work but it's more calm and respectful. I think the French approach, they approach film as an art form more than a business. It was fun and I think the result to my eye was something different."

Asked about making a film in Quebec, Kline said he's not confident yet that he's up to the challenge.

"I don't if I could replicate perfectly a Québécois, I don't know if I could bring it off, but I could play an American who speaks French. Bien sur. Avec plaisir."

With files from CBC's Jeanette Kelly