Challengers

Luca Guadagnino reaches into his box of tricks for an ostentatious tale of balls and sex.

Josh O'Connor

A match is not just a match. It is a physically punishing contest of wills that incorporates context, rivalry, history, politics, psychology and, ultimately, the true cost of the outcome. Essentially, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is the story of one tennis match played out at a Challenger event in New Rochelle, New York. In between the close-ups, arcs of sweat, fusillade of power returns and head-swivelling spectators is the backstory played out over two hours across thirteen years. To make it interesting, Guadagnino cuts back and forth across the court – and over the years – with as many camera angles and cinematic tricks at his disposal. Time is slowed down and speeded up, personal grudges exposed and sacrifices made, along with a bit of slap and tickle to flesh out the tension stewing on the court.

A passing knowledge of the rules of tennis might help, although Guadagnino crams so much into his visuals that there is plenty to engage the eye, if not the emotions. As revealed in such films as I Am Love, A Bigger Splash and Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino has revealed himself to be a superlative stylist, bending the possibilities of cinema to his will, giving one the sense that one is experiencing a totally new (and original) film.

Here, he has elicited accomplished turns from his three players, particularly Josh O’Connor as the underdog who cannot even afford a room for the night. We first meet Patrick Zweig (O’Connor) as he attempts to bribe a hotel receptionist for a bed with a signed racquet. It’s clear he’s not only in need of a good night’s kip, but is very, very hungry. In the event, he plays his way into the tournament’s final, where he finds himself face to face with Art Donaldson. He obviously has a lot to lose, but even more to win…

Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is a star player and one US Open title away from a Career Grand Slam. But, partly because of his great age of 31 and partly because of a recent injury, he has suffered a loss of confidence and, positioned against a wild card, hopes to go out in a blaze of glory. Then there’s Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) who provides the narrative glue, who is not just Art’s coach and the mother of his daughter, but a former one-time champion herself. And she has her own emotional investment in the outcome of the match, for conflicting reasons. So a lot is riding on this game – all the more so as Patrick and Art were childhood friends…

By jumping back and forth across time, Guadagnino doesn’t make it easy to follow the flow of events, in spite of the ample use of onscreen captions. And his desperation to invigorate his material with fancy shots, odd camera angles and penetrating close-ups becomes distracting, if not infuriating. As a piece of cinema, Challengers is often impressive, and in light of the results of a recent study revealing that some tennis champions may be endowed with an advanced temporal resolution – enabling them to track fast moving objects better than others – Guadagnino’s playing with time feels almost prophetic. It’s just a shame that his Jules et Jim on the courts squanders much of its brilliance with his self-serving direction.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist, Darnell Appling, Nada Despotovich, A.J. Lister, Hailey Gates. 

Dir Luca Guadagnino, Pro Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O'Connor, Amy Pascal and Zendaya, Screenplay Justin Kuritzkes, Ph Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Pro Des Merissa Lombardo, Ed Marco Costa, Music Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Costumes Jonathan Anderson, Sound Paul Carter, Dialect coach Susan Hegarty. 

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Pascal Pictures-Warner Bros.
131 mins. USA. 2024. UK and US Rel: 26 April 2024. Cert. 15.