Luca Guandingino’s Challengers makes tennis sexy — A Challengers Movie Review
Game. Sex. Match. Luca Guandingino’s Challengers is nothing short of beautiful, elegant, and dramatic. Tennis is often perceived as lacking ‘drama’ due to the etiquette involved, yet Luca creates a perfect storm of betrayal, passion, and rivalry. And oh, does he do it well.
By: Nina Bartholomeusz
Zendaya in Challengers. From Dexerto.com, 2024.
The movie is centered around tennis players Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), and Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Art and Patrick are friends having played tennis together since they were kids, Patrick is cocky and unserious but plays good tennis, Art plays mediocre tennis but strives to get better. Upon seeing Tashi play tennis, they both become desperate to have her, and so begins a love triangle. Tashi decides that whoever wins their match that they will play against each other, gets her number, which ends up being Patrick. However after Tashi’s injury which means she can no longer play tennis, and a fight with Patrick, Art and Tashi begin a relationship and Patrick is seemingly out of the picture. That is until Tashi who years later is now Art’s coach, wife, and mother to his child, decides to put him in a ‘challenger’ in middle of nowhere New York, where he will play Patrick in the final.
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Firstly, the score. For the most part, I thought it was amazing. The loud beating, club music paired with beautiful shots of tennis was exhilarating and tense. I felt that the music would come in as a way to signal underlying tension that otherwise goes unnoticed. However, it was at times unnecessary especially when music starts playing when Art is simply sitting on the couch talking to Tashi, as even to signal tension between them, it would have been stronger to let the audience sit with the tension and uncomfortableness. When Tashi cheats on Art with Patrick as a wind storm swirls around them and the choir song plays, it reflects the contrast between the innocence of a children’s choir, and Tashi’s manipulative infidelity. What a powerful choice.
Visually, the film was beautiful. The vintage lens, the classic greens and blues, all quintessentially Luca. The movie was vibrant yet felt realistic. The cinematography was truly impressive, featuring shots where the camera is literally being hit across the court as though it is the tennis ball. The dramatic zoom in to Tashi crying was particularly memorable, as it reminded me of the zoom-ins in soap operas, and conveyed the rarity of her breaking down and being vulnerable.
At first, it appears that cocky and disruptive Patrick is the antagonist, but upon watching the film for a second time, I found that it was in reality, Tashi. She is trying to stay relevant whilst grappling with being sidelined and having to coach her husband, and the resentment Tashi feels for both of them because she can no longer play tennis and they can, resonates throughout the movie and is central to the plot. Tashi constantly tries to give Patrick tennis advice which ultimately leads to their break up, whereas Art takes her advice as she is his coach, but has lost his passion for the sport. The interconnectedness of these relationships is unique and fascinating.
At the heart of it, Tashi knows the power she has over them makes them more passionate and driven to play good tennis. When Art and Patrick play tennis, it becomes about their relationship. They are fighting through tennis. The voyeurism of being watched with such intensity by an audience and Tashi, was Luca’s version of sex in the movie. Daring and passionate, he compares the two, an unlikely combination. As Tashi says, tennis is a relationship, when they play, it is like they are in love and hate each other at the same time.
However, there were some issues I had with the movie as I feel that Tashi’s family dynamic with her and Art and their daughter could have been better explored. We understand that Tashi is maybe staying with Art because she wants to hold onto tennis, but we do not see a lot of connection between Tashi and her daughter and their dynamic being a family unit. The product placement in the movie was somewhat off-putting, besides the obvious Adidas and Uniqlo sponsorship which felt appropriate since uniforms and matches in tennis are often sponsored by sports brands, the Dunkin Donuts and Arizona product placement was much too obvious. All in all, it was hard to get inside the characters head, as due to the plot, there was not an equal split of individual stories for the three characters. The characters’ motivations and intentions were hard to follow due to the writing such as the reason why Patrick had given up on his life and had no money, why Art had not spoken to Patrick after him and Tashi broke up, etc.
Overall, I think this movie is a great watch that I recommend watching, and tells an important story of the different reasons that people can be motivated in sport, and to view sports as something much deeper than ‘hitting a ball with a racket’ as they say in the movie. The film blurs the lines between competitive sport and intimate relationships, and the subtle similarities that exist between them.
