Challenging (ChallengersUnited States/2024). Address: Luca Guadagnino. Script: Justin Kuriztkes. Photography: Sayumbho Mukdeeprom. Music: Trent Reznor y Atticus Ross. Edition: Marco Costa. List: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist. Distributor: Warner Bros. Duration: 131 minutes. Qualification: Suitable for over 16 years. Our opinion: very good.
Everything was ready at the end of August 2023 for Challenging opened the last Venice Festival. There was a lot of expectation to see the film that mixed the powerful attraction of a star with brilliance and growing popularity, the charismatic Zendaya, with the presence behind the cameras of a prestigious and valued director in the auteur film circuits, the Italian Luca Guadagnino .
The extensive strike of Hollywood actors frustrated all these plans. Challenging It was the first high-profile film forced to postpone its release due to the absence of its protagonists at the vital moment when they were needed to promote it and create public interest in seeing it through personal commitment and word.
Now, when the long-delayed moment arrived to present it, it is clear that Challenging It does not need any marketing action to attract attention. It is one of those rare films that from the first image burst forth defiant, haughty and above all completely sure of themselves in terms of what they want to give, tell and show. There is more than one trailer available for those who have any questions about it before deciding to see it.
There is no one way to approach this story. Challenging invites us to contemplate how a love story between three characters evolves and transforms over time. It doesn’t do it in a linear way. Guadagnino opts for a constant movement between the past and the present with enough lucidity to give meaning to each movement of a devilish and at the same time fascinating game.
Challenging install that triangle in the world of tennis. Art Donaldson (Mike Faist, whom we met as the antagonist of the central couple in the recent version of Love without barriers signed by Steven Spielberg) is a prominent protagonist of the professional circuit who occupies relevant places in the world rankings, competes in Grand Slam tournaments, has a comfortable standard of living and his image is associated with advertisements for luxurious items. Her partner, Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), was a promising player forced by a serious injury to leave the game and become a coach.
Art is going through some down times in his career and Tashi can’t think of anything else to get him back on track other than starting over from the bottom. When he takes him to play challenger tournaments (there the original title of the film takes on a first meaning, not the only one) he will meet Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor, Prince Charles from seasons 3 and 4) on his way. of The Crown), a disgraced player, almost homeless on the circuit (he doesn’t even have the resources to pay for a hotel night).
Until in rapid flashbacks, Guadagnino shows us the context of those seemingly dispersed relationships. Long before, Art and Patrick were inseparable companions in youth tennis. When they meet Tashi she starts a race between them to see who can win her over first. Cunning and manipulative, the girl discovers that she can have fun and take advantage of what is hidden behind that rivalry. The two simultaneous lovers of her refuse to recognize that there is an irresistible attraction between them at the same time.
The real challenge, exciting to watch, begins at that moment. With resources ranging from the most studied calculation to pure impulse, Art, Patrick and Tasha employ all kinds of tactics, behaviors, gestures and actions (including those typical of a sports competition) in the service of an ardent game of desire and seduction. Through these signs (symbols that generally suggest more than they show) Guadagnino builds a powerful melodrama that knows how to hide his passionate expressive and erotic drive behind some truly exhilarating comedy scenes. And it achieves this with all the possible resources that the language of cinema provides: the use of certain objects, the extraordinary use of a formidable soundtrack to anticipate the approach of some moment of climax or the illuminated use of the camera in the notable filmed sequences. on the courts.
Challenging It talks about love, jealousy, frustrated dreams, ambitions, resentments and betrayals with just the right doses of tension, ingenuity, surprise, talent and inspiration of a great sports final. Tennis functions in this case as the framework for a different romantic comedy, magnificently acted by the leading trio and with a director who understands like few others the power of desire and the love impulse in today’s cinema.