Actually, it’s shameless trash: two tennis players fighting over a woman who has control over where the balls land. But with Luca Guadagnino it turns into a mischievous and sweaty pleasure.
The young tennis stars Art (Mike Faist, left), Tashi (Zendaya) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor).
MGM
Anna Müller, tennis hope from Switzerland, has no chance. She is outclassed by Tashi Duncan. The young American literally sweeps her opponent off the court. Tashi, 18 years old, is the college tennis prodigy.
Patrick and Art sit in amazement in the audience; the two boys have just won a junior doubles tournament together. Now they set their sights on the next trophy: “She’s the hottest woman I’ve ever seen,” Patrick drools.
Later they talk to Tashi at the party. You almost had to feel sorry for Anna Müller, says Art. “You don’t have to feel sorry for her,” answers Tashi. The Swiss woman is a loser, “and a racist bitch”.
The racist Swiss woman remains a side note. It’s about the winner with the dark complexion, Tashi Duncan, a kid from the working class, hardened like no other. But Art and Patrick also like to play offensively: whoever gets Tashi’s number, they dig.
Soon everyone is kissing at once
The two could be brothers: mischievous faces, they’ve got a lot of shit behind them. They have been sharing a room at boarding school for years, and together they can be particularly uninhibitedly pubescent.
Director Luca Guadagnino likes it a bit obscene; sexual awakening appeals to him. The scene with Timothée Chalamet and the peach as a sex toy is unforgettable from Guadagnino’s big gay romance film “Call Me by Your Name” (2017): The two here, Patrick and Art, are in a similar mood.
At the party, Tashi teases the precocious boys who are vying for her: she doesn’t want to destroy their love for each other, she says. “I am not a homewrecker.” It doesn’t destroy anything yet. The evening ends with the three of them in the room, Tashi smooching first with one and then with the other. Soon everyone is kissing wildly.
Tennis is available in singles and doubles. But here tennis is now also available as a threesome. In his new film, Guadagnino tells a love triangle within the world of sports in a mischievous and sweaty way that only he can do.
Amorous set of three
You have to be so impudent, the starting point is actually the most shameless trash novel: two tennis players are fighting over a woman who has control over where the balls land. Because it’s the head that decides whether you win or lose. And it’s not always on the next return or the forehand winner. You exhaust yourself on the court, but just as much off the court: “Challengers” is a first-class sports and erotic film.
What is initially a clearly defined love triangle gradually begins to have rough edges. Guadagnino doesn’t tell the story point by point, he jumps back and forth in the amorous three-sentence set: The foreplay was in the room with Tashi, and a good ten years later the finale takes place on the court: Art versus Patrick. A match that decides everything. Career, friendship, love.
The reunion of the childhood friends takes place at a small tournament in New Rochelle, New York. The careers of Art Donaldson and Patrick Zweig could not have been more different. Art is now one of the world’s best. But he’s in a slump right now, nothing works anymore. At the third-class tournament on the east coast, he should regain confidence for the US Open.
Art was always the more ambitious of the two. An elegant player, one-handed backhand type. Good at footwork, strong server, also tactically clever. Not unlike Roger Federer in the game system. Patrick, on the other hand, never did anything with his talent. Too impetuous, an inconsistent rowdy in a sleeveless T-shirt, temperamentally somewhere between Nadal and McEnroe. Just miserably unsuccessful.
Patrick barely stays afloat with Challenger tournaments, in which third-rate players can qualify for the Grand Slams. He still has 70 euros in his account, but the hotel refuses to accept his credit card. The first night he sleeps in the car in the parking lot of the tennis facility. For the second, he looks for a one-night stand on Tinder.
Meanwhile, Art, his old roommate from boarding school, is spending the night in a luxury hotel – together with Tashi, because she is now not only his wife, she is also his coach. After a nasty knee injury, Tashi had to give up her own career. Now she trains her husband, manages him and runs his foundation. Without her, Art is lost. Tashi has not only tamed the unbridled bung, she has domesticated him into a lap dog. But now he’s boring her. At the same time, she never completely got away from the unpredictable playboy Patrick.
Produced by the “Euphoria” star
Hollywood actress Zendaya shines in the role of this secret playmaker. The “Euphoria” star co-produced the film and she gets down to business with relish. She portrays Tashi as a speedy bee who can also be a manipulative bitch. Tashi grabs the men by the rackets. She doesn’t bother with morals. Neither does Guadagnino. This makes the film a wonderfully frivolous pleasure.
The Italian is a pleasure-driven director like no other. So with “Bones and All” he succeeded in an unlikely genre feat, a cannibalistic youth romance. Consuming one another was taken literally here. But Guadagnino films are always like that: wonderfully meaty.
Cinema can still be enjoyable. Anyone who watches “Challengers” will once again see what has changed in film in recent years: the art of film is increasingly drying up. Especially in streaming, the content lacks sensuality. The narrative has become economized, filmmakers are still fabricating and forgetting to romanticize. Or to put it bluntly: cinema is hardly sexy anymore.
Except for Guadagnino. His films are in shambles. You have to imagine the maestro exactly like that: embodying the dolce vita. A few years ago he came to the Zurich Film Festival and the meeting with him made a lasting impression on the young film journalist. Stars usually receive short audiences in impersonal hotel rooms. Guadagnino asked to go into the restaurant where he had just had lunch. As soon as you sat down, he asked if you wanted to share dessert with him. One plate, two spoons.
He is not afraid of contact, and that rubs off on his cinema. It seeks proximity, smell, taste, bodies. In “Challengers” the camera (led by the Thai Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, “Memoria”) likes to stick to the short tennis shorts, and Guadagnino also goes into the showers. Or the big discussion between the opponents finally takes place in the sauna. The towels are loose, the dialogue is right.
Film without fat: Art (Mike Faist) and Tashi (Zendaya) strengthen themselves for training.
Niko Tavernise / MGM
The athleticism makes the aesthetics
The sport of tennis serves as a metaphor for the filmmaker: what happens on the court reflects the dynamics next to it. “Tennis is a relationship,” is how 18-year-old Tashi spells it out. And like every relationship, tennis is simultaneously banal and highly complex: What is going on with the opponent? Does he fake a stop ball or go for a winning shot? Guadagnino manages to turn the simple relationship box into a sophisticated psychological thriller.
The Briton Josh O’Connor, who plays the young Prince Charles in “The Crown”, goes wild in the role of the rebellious Patrick Zweig. And after his performance as gang leader Riff in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”, Mike Faist is now extremely focused as Art Donaldson: the two of them are physically like tennis pros. In every sense. “Challengers” is a film without an ounce of fat.
The athleticism makes the aesthetics. Guadagnino has style, but he doesn’t lose himself in style exercises. He doesn’t manipulate anything. His films also allow for a spontaneity that hardly exists anymore in American cinema. This director shoots from the hip. As in tennis, not every shot lands in the field. Sometimes the camera looks for an angle and distorts. But it is precisely these risks that define “Challengers”. A film that lives. Luca Guadagnino wins with the simplest tactic: he shows up to play.