How did he, Richard Williams, turn his daughters Serena and Venus into tennis champions? This is what tells The Williams Method by Reinaldo Marcus Green, a biopic in which Will Smith stars and which fascinates with its tensions and twists, as is often the case with sports on the screen. 20 minutes asked
Julien Camy, co-author with his father Gérard many books on sports in cinema, including the recent Football in the cinema (Hugo & Cie), what made the success of this film.
“The magic of sport is that there are things going on that would not be possible in other areas. The surpassing of oneself implied by the sporting discipline is reflected well on the screen, believes Julien Camy. And if tennis is one of the most popular sports in cinema, it is because, along with football, it is one of the disciplines where outsiders can beat champions. We let ourselves be taken by the true story of this family which will end up shattering the glass ceiling of social classes to impose itself in a very codified world.
Family and surpassing oneself
“What differentiates The Williams Method other recent tennis movies, like 5th Set Where Clayis that the family relationship is not described as toxic ”, emphasizes Julien Camy. The training of young girls by this visionary father fascinates from the first images and all the more so as people take him for a madman while the spectator knows that he will achieve his goal. It remains that we are still amazed to learn how this father had planned everything for his daughters in a 78-page manual of devilishly effective. When the Willams sisters enter the court, you really feel like you are sharing your experience, even when you don’t know anything about tennis. “This is what differentiates a fiction from a documentary: here, the spectator is involved, further analyzes Julien Camy. He is at the heart of the action and therefore feels personally involved. “
It had been a long time since Will Smith had been as convincing as in King Richard (father’s nickname and original title of the film), perhaps because sports cinema is one of his specialties as he proved in The Legend Bagger Vance by Robert Redford or in Ali by Michael Mann. The actor, whose children Jaden and Willow make a career, was also able to find an echo to his own parenthood in this man determined to make his children succeed at all costs.