Cinema release of “Challengers – Rivals”
A sweaty tennis love triangle
Mike Faist, Zendaya and Josh O’Connor (from left) in “Challengers – Rivals”.
© imago/Landmark Media
Two rivals, one woman, one match: “Challengers – Rivals” is about an exciting love triangle in the tennis world.
Anyone who has ever watched a tennis match knows how long a match can drag on – in “Challengers – Rivals” the nerve-wracking affair stretches over 13 years. Director In his new film (from April 25th), Luca Guadagnino (52) traces the rivalry between two tennis players – on and off the tennis court.
Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) are two aspiring young tennis professionals, roommates and best friends. But when tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) comes into their lives, they become rivals. An exciting love triangle develops.
13 years later, Tashi is not only married to Art, but also his trainer after she had to put her own career on hold due to an injury. He has had a successful and lucrative tennis career. Patrick has disappeared from their lives – until the former friends meet in the final of a “Challengers” tournament. While the two were playing for Tashi’s cell phone number as teenagers, it seems as if they are now playing for her heart.
Luca Guadagnino makes tennis erotic
“Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino relies on powerful cuts in “Challengers” and sometimes lets the camera follow the ball so that it almost looks as if it itself is flying back and forth over the net. The film tells the story zigzagging through the past – in hardly any other film have words like “Thirteen years ago” or “Three months ago” appeared on the screen so often.
The love triangle and the current tennis match go hand in hand: if one player is ahead in the set, looking back he is lucky in love. If he loses in the game, the relationship develops in the opposite way. And so the two play four sets – until it comes to the “Deuce”. Guadagnino is known for his ability to portray the most banal – or even unsavory – situations as if they were the most aesthetic or erotic thing in the world. What he achieved in “Call Me by Your Name” with the infamous peach scene, he now repeated in “Challengers” with churros and drops of sweat.
All three main actors shine
Lead actress Zendaya (27), who also co-produced the film, consolidates her status as a natural film star with her portrayal of tennis player and coach Tashi. She moves between determined and cool toughness and the floating grace of a ballerina on the court.
Mike Faist (32, “West Side Story”) plays Art Donaldson as an overly polite, analytical player and person. Josh O’Connor (33, “The Crown”), on the other hand, embodies Patrick Zweig as a relaxed player with a cocky, rock star-like demeanor even off the court. They are “Fire and Ice”, two sides of the same coin – and that’s why they work so well as both rivals and best friends. Or maybe even more than that?
Conclusion
Director Luca Guadagnino himself described tennis as a boring game. Nevertheless – or perhaps precisely because of this – he managed to create an erotically charged, intricately constructed and stylish cinema film against the backdrop of sport. “Challengers” is a delight at every turn. And sweating has rarely looked so sexy.