Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) seemingly has it all, yet he feels nothing but disappointment and exhaustion. He’s a world-famous tennis star, right in the middle of what should be his physical prime, with an entrepreneurial and (sometimes) supportive wife, along with a beautiful daughter. But still recovering from a debilitating injury, Art is slowly coming to the realization that his best days might be behind him. Then there’s Patrick (Josh O’Connor), Art’s long-lost friend and former tennis partner. Patrick faces a wholly different dilemma – he never “made it” like his old friend and desperately wants his tennis career to mean something. This means entering into low-scale tournaments for shallow prize money, as his car acts as his transportation and housing. Faith is a tricky element, and it promises to bring Art and Patrick back into each other’s orbit to finally conclude some unsettled history.
Very few acclaimed directors have a filmography as sexually charged or as pervy, YMMV, as Luca Guadagnino. His camera’s gaze explores an eclectic catalog of sexuality, rising in his field as one of the most well-known Queer directors, both in terms of his personal life as well as the content depicted in his movies. In Challengers, his Art and Patrick embody rivals and best friends, yet there’s also an attraction burgeoning, and at times – acted upon. This is a tennis film and a sports film, and appropriately – Guadagnino makes the tennis intimate and personal. Per the film’s depiction, tennis is as much susceptible to a relationship, with sexual hunger & release, as what ends up happening behind closed doors. Art and Patrick slowly learn this tenet, not just for what it may mean for their attraction to each other, but also for the real prize that they’re after: the rapturously hyped tennis phenom Tashi Duncan (Zendaya).
Zendaya is the queen on the chess board in more ways than one here, delivering the movie’s most controlled and arresting performance. Flashbacks introduce us to a young Tashi, who not only has a social circle that worships the young athlete, but she quickly picks up on (and uses to her advantage) how infatuated with her Art and Patrick are. Zendaya plays this role with equal shades of sensuality, mischief, frustration, anger, and arrogance. She has a strong screen presence despite a small physique, commanding attention based on facial expressions and slight movements, with occasional bursts of elegant and controlled physicality. She’s never going 100 miles per hour; relying instead on less is more, whether she’s selling an intense conversation or dancing on a beach like a siren luring in her gullible play things. However, I don’t think her profanity is quite as believable – there’s something funny about hearing a voice that innocent drop F bombs.
The movie initially withholds seeing all 3 lead stars together, then let’s the sparks fly once they finally crossover. Guadagnino affords Tashi the most power in these scenes, with the two men (particularly Art) coming across as affectionate puppies. This unconventional power imbalance allows Zendaya to operate in a level of safety, giving her the freedom to let loose sexually without it feeling scummy or exploitative. Meanwhile, O’Connor and Faist sell the love triangle as a need and desire for both their male and female counterparts – maybe a throuple would work for these blokes if they all weren’t so professionally ambitious.
The film is well-paced, demanding that viewers have the patience to build to its many reveals while keeping the experience snappy in the meantime. Guadagnino and editor Marco Costa give the movie a punchy rhythm, which is exemplified in the film’s excellent tennis exhibitions. The performers are captured with grace and virility, as the camera expertly captures flying tennis balls, whip-quick rackets, and several timely cuts while the camera teleports across the court. Guadagnino values efficiently in these matches, evading burnout on the audience by keeping the tennis matches evenly spread out and pushing his actors towards intense performances. Each major character here feels like a different shade of athlete, but Faist and Zendaya feel the most akin to superstars with the dramatic energy they carry themselves with, as Guadagnino at times captures them as they would appear in an ESPN-produced highlight package.
The aspect of the screenplay that inspires the most debate is its unique sexual politics. It would be simplistic to posit that Tashi is just a master manipulator, using her charm to control the lives of these men. But that would ignore the complex choices made by both Art and Patrick, their shitty behavior, or the fact that they’re at times more infatuated with each other than they are Tashi. The two men are just as caught up in their own rivalry as they are Tashi’s web of control. However, it’s Art who endures the most torturous treatment from his supposed loved ones, as he’s a declining athlete at the mercy of Tashi and Patrick’s whims, as the latter two find new ways to kick the guy in the nuts. How Art didn’t end the movie swinging an ax, I’ll never know.
Yet, this level of sexual exploration brings up interesting questions about autonomy, freedom, and the dangers of devotion. To open your heart and desires to multiple partners, while seemingly tempting on paper, is likely a means to guarantee that much more heartbreak for yourself and others. Ego, poor decision making based on in the moment urges, and just general selfishness ensure these relationships will have downsides, even if they may be fruitful for a moment. What Guadagnino captures is 3 disparate souls stuck in the same emotional and mental tryst, even if they’ve convinced themselves otherwise.
It’s interesting to note that when the 3 characters are at their lowest, they each are after a different want. For Patrick – money, Art – love, Tasha – adulation. There’s a brief moment where Tashi is going over marketing materials, and she finds the urge to write an ‘S’ at the end of the term ‘Gamechanger.’ She feels left out, robbed of a destiny she can only imagine, and she takes her grief out in destructive ways. The morality of the flick tests each character and shows which aspects of their personality they are willing to indulge in the face of adversity. Not surprisingly, they make the wrong choice more often than not – but there’s always one last set to make things right.
The film is ultimately about the different stages of an athlete’s life, combined with the multiple stages of love and lust. We see our characters at the beginning of their journey posessing the peak of their potential, their primes, their injuries, retirement, cavernous indulges, love, romance, family, resentment, hate, and cold to the touch apathy. It’s a gamut of emotions, one that would feel dizzying in most instances, but Guadagnino thrives when his characters are messy and strung up on someone they can’t quite have in their preferred way. In connecting the art of tennis with the practice of sex and passion, Guadagnino is at once measuring the limits of an athlete’s body as well as their heart. Challengers ends up determining we are at our healthiest, even our happiest, when the fire inside us burns the brightest. That fire isn’t sustainable, which is all the more reason you should make every flame count.
