Challengers Review: Three Way? Yes way!

Luca Guadagnino’s new film Challengers took the world by storm after its release in April 2024. With a talented and captivating cast and enigmatic techno soundtrack, Challengers has proved to be a grand slam. Starring Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis player turned coach, alongside Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, as Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson, ex best friends and now against one another in the final match of the Challengers tournament. They’re also both in love with Tashi Duncan, who they met when they were still best friends and tennis partners.

The three leads give stellar performances. Audiences are thrown into the present, where Tashi and Art are married, and Art is against Patrick Zweig in the final match of the Challengers tournament. The tension is built instantly, with the accompanying techno soundtrack by Reznor and Ross, which has no trouble raising the heart rates of audience members. Through Guadagnino’s non-linear narrative we explore the relationship between the three characters and how we end up in this tense situation. From the offset, we can see how different Art and Patrick are, with Art married, with a daughter and staying in a fancy hotel before his match. While Patrick’s card is declined at a cheap, nasty motel. Patrick questions the possibility of an advance on his pay check for winning the tournament, which he hasn’t even started yet, a testament to his arrogance even though he is in financial turmoil. The audience cannot help but feel bad for the guy as he drools over half a Dunkin’ breakfast bagel, obviously starving. Through the use of costume, Art and Patrick are separated further. Art is dressed in branded activewear, all white and sleek, he is well put together and sophisticated. Patrick, on the other hand, looks like he threw his mismatched outfit together in the dark. His unshaved face and messy hair give him a rough and tough look, especially against the sleek and shiny look of his opponent. It seems that these two characters are worlds apart, but they both take sneaky glances at Tashi Duncan, sitting front and centre at the final match. 

Suddenly we are thrown into the past, where Art and Patrick are not only teammates, but best friends. Their youth and enthusiasm are electric and they revel in one another’s company. It stirs up questions of how this relationship got so lost in the present. Well, it all starts with the introduction of Zendaya’s character, Tashi Duncan, a tennis superstar at only eighteen, who also happens to be drop dead gorgeous. Art, initially suspicious of Patrick’s adoration for Duncan, turns into a puppy dog with big eyes as soon as he sees Tashi Duncan in the flesh, and he too is under her spell. She is absolutely mesmerising, and her tennis skills are insane. It is almost comical how Patrick and Art drool over her like little pets, it is established from the beginning that Tashi has all the power; they simply cannot keep their eyes off of her. In the following scene where Patrick and Art finally gather the courage to talk to her, we see just how human Tashi really is. At only eighteen, she has high hopes for her future, and she is not as intimidating as she seems to be on the court. As a side note, Guadagnino plays homage to his 2017 coming-of-age film Call Me by Your Name, with Zendaya dancing in a blue dress, a parallel to Timothee Chamalet dancing in a blue shirt in front of the lurking eyes of Armie Hammer. This dance sequence reinstates the power Tashi has over these boys, and how she can be in her own world, and they are still desperate for a foot in the door. Guadagnino gives glimpses into just how close Patrick and Art are in small snippets of intimacy, for example, as they anxiously debate Tashi’s arrival to their hotel room. Art fails to believe she will accept their invitation, while the ever so egotistical Patrick is certain of it. They are both chilling in the hotel room, half naked, and chatting mindlessly like young adults do. After a surprising knock on the door, panic ensues as we comically watch them struggle to make themselves (and their hotel room) look somewhat presentable and we are successfully reminded of the power Tashi holds over these boys and just how young and naive they truly are. What follows is a sexy, stimulating scene where we see Tashi’s first attempt at manipulating these boys. Their threeway kiss is exciting and youthful, and yet takes a sinister tone as Tashi leans back and observes the boys kissing passionately in front of her. What started as a battle for Tashi, has now become a passionate moment between Art and Patrick, which plays to the idea of their relationship having homoerotic undertones. Tashi’s look is both comical and suspicious: comical as the boys haven’t realised Tashi is no longer involved, and suspicious because the audience is now curious as to what game Tashi is playing. She looks at them with a thirst for power. She proceeds to challenge them that whoever wins the match tomorrow can have her number, while ignoring the desperate pleas of Art. Instead, she replies that all she wants is to watch ‘some good fucking tennis’. Tashi has all the cards, and she holds them to her chest tightly. 

What continues to play out is a battle of power dynamics and jealousy. Patrick, having won against Art, has now entered into a relationship with Tashi. However, Art and Tashi both attend Stanford, giving them the physical proximity to get emotionally closer. Art attempts to mask his jealousy, while Patrick strives to keep his relationship with Tashi private, much to Art’s disappointment. He insists on a secret code to imply that Patrick and Tashi have taken the next physical step without the need for actual words, which Patrick agrees to. This iconic code proves to be incredibly significant in the final act of the film, where Patrick uses it to confess to Art, while simultaneously holding more power over him at match point. Patrick has always been the better player, which Art recognises, and yet Art cannot be overlooked. In fact, he probably needs a bigger spoon for all the stirring he does. In a futile attempt to regain some sense of power, he slowly undermines Tashi and Patrick’s relationship, instilling doubt in both these characters that actually do care for one another. In the famous ‘churro’ scene, we see how Art subtly tries to question Patrick’s loyalty. Their physical closeness in the scene mirrors their close-knit relationship; they've been friends for years. But now there is this barrier between them, this presence that has created tension: Tashi. Patrick steals Art’s churro right from his grip, takes a bite, and then offers Art a bite too. This represents how Patrick takes what he wants without hesitation, and Art subsequently allows him to. Patrick offers Art to take a bite of the churro that was originally his, which is backward and sadistic: Art is kept at bay and reminded of his position as a lower rate tennis player and the one that didn't win Tashi’s number. In a sense, this is where his villain arc truly occurred. Tashi’s injury in her following match is blamed on Patrick, after they had a horrible fight, stirred on by Art, whereas, arguably, Art is at fault for he is the one that put a spanner in the works. 

As years pass, we see Tashi and Art reunite. Art even asks Tashi to be his coach. He ends up with everything he ever wanted: Tashi and a rewarding tennis career. He not only attains everything that Patrick had, but he has also surpassed him. However, even when Art and Tashi are married, it seems that Tashi and Patrick simply cannot leave one another alone. They are magnetised to one another, and Tashi repeatedly cheats on Art with him. While this is obviously immoral, you cannot help but feel sorry for the two of them. They are destined to be with one another, but both their egos got in the way. Patrick even admits to Tashi that he is not a lap dog, he is her equal, her peer. Whereas Art has such strong admiration for Tashi, he lets her walk all over him. His only use to her is his tennis and she plays vicariously through him, while inwardly resenting him for his ability to be a tennis champion. Tashi would kill for the opportunity to play tennis at the level she played before her injury again. Patrick pushes her and stimulates her, whereas Art stalls her. 

This film is filled with mind games and abuses of power. Tashi exploits her marriage with Art, using it as a means to fulfil her own tennis dreams. While Art cowers behind her as her show pony, struggling with the confidence he had in the early years of their marriage. A significant scene in the first act, is when Art tells Tashi that he loves her, and she replies, ‘I know’, which reinforces how Art is Tashi’s lap dog and keen member of her fan club. Whereas Tashi has no respect for him, she simply takes his admiration like he is a nobody. When Art and Tashi meet again after a few years, Tashi asks Art if he is still in love with her. In this brief moment, her ego is slightly damaged, and she needs Art’s unwavering devotion to pick her up again. He absolutely delivers, claiming ‘who wouldn’t be’, leaving Tashi with a coy smile and the ego boost she desperately needed. Patrick never loses his confidence and all his scenes with Tashi are electric and fiery. They have a passion that is absent in her actual marriage. In the final scene, ‘match point’, it is revealed that Patrick and Tashi slept together the very night before, through the boys’ secret code. The reveal is jaw dropping and perfectly timed, leaving Art gobsmacked and furious. For the first time, Tashi is not ‘in the know’, and she looks between the two boys anxiously, wondering what telepathic communication they are sharing. This illustrates that their connection is stronger than either of their individual connections with Tashi. As the clock runs, and the final point is scored, it is not entirely clear what happens at the end. But the final shot is a close up of Patrick and Art in an embrace, after it seems that Art has scored the winning point. Guadagnino has reinforced that the main aspect of this story is the relationship between Art and Patrick: it starts and ends with them. At the beginning of the film, and the final match, they are miles apart both physically and emotionally, but, by the end, they have found each other in one another’s arms. Tashi cannot get in between this friendship; perhaps she doesn’t have all the power she initially believed she has.