Challengers: Love-All

If you know me if at all, you know that I’ve developed quite an obsession with the movie Challengers. This movie was released earlier this year in April, and since my first screening, I have thought about these characters and their relationship(s) probably every single day. Now, I’m not a huge film junkie, but I felt extremely compelled to write a piece on this movie because there is so much more to this feature than the steaming throuple and sexy tennis that everyone is talking about. The only other movie I’ve ever analyzed is Everything Everywhere All At Once, so taking the time to really deep dive into this film is a pretty significant deal. But anyway, I digress. 

I also want to preface that there will be spoilers moving forward. I’m only essaying about Art and Patrick’s relationship, their relationships with Tashi, and the metaphor of tennis, but I still want to acknowledge the stellar direction and cinematography of this movie, the incredible score, and the performance of the actors themselves. I also will not be providing any exposition or foundational context to the narrative of Challengers because my baseline assumption is that you’ve already seen it. And if you haven’t, then what are you doing? Get on it. You’ve been thoroughly warned.

Art and Patrick

When Patrick and Art, the younger years, are doubles partners, they are dubbed “Fire and Ice”. Notably, Patrick is Fire and Art is Ice. This physically manifests in the colors they wear throughout the movie: red for Fire and blue for Ice. It’s not just a nickname; it’s obviously a way to describe each of the characters, where Patrick can be impulsive and Art comes across as more stable. However, during the time jumps, they will sometimes alternate colors, swapping their “personalities” depending on the context they’re in. I also read somewhere that this parallels a piece by Robert Frost, where he depicts fire as desire and ice as hatred. I mention this now because you can see that’s how Tashi views the two characters as the movie progresses, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Another significant component of this movie is the score; it’s a sexy, techno beat by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. We hear the music play when things start getting a little intense, specifically when the game is on between Patrick and Art. However, it’s not always when they’re playing tennis. The score will explicitly come into the scene when they’re competing for Tashi, even when they don’t even know it or when one of them isn’t even on the screen. Despite their constant contention for Tashi, Art and Patrick have a deeply intimate relationship. We see this in their synchronized movements throughout the movie, their matching boners when they first watch Tashi play, and how comfortable they are physically touching each other (Patrick grabbing Art’s knee, hitting his boner, them hugging and rolling around on the tennis court, etc.).

It’s also important to note the way Partick responds whenever Art expresses interest in Tashi. At first, it seems that he’s disappointed because Tashi isn’t paying Patrick any attention, but when you look closer, he actually seems more disappointed that Art isn’t paying attention to him. It’s not specifically canon that Patrick is bisexual (though maybe his Tinder preferences confirm that), but it goes to show that his relationship with Art is more than just platonic. In addition to that, Art has a reputation for being a soft boy, a pushover almost. But we know this isn’t always true. When he convinces Patrick to tell him whether they (Tashi and Patrick) slept together through his serve, we see a glimpse of this manipulative side of him underneath the sweet, nice boy facade when his smile drops when Patrick isn’t looking. 

The Throuple

I know they aren’t ever a throuple throughout this movie, but is that going to stop me from referring to them as one? No! When Tashi is first on screen, we can immediately see that Patrick is attracted to her physically as just a beautiful person whereas Art is immediately drawn to her as a tennis player, but either way, they’re both enthralled by the Tashi Duncan. Also, part of why I love this movie so much is seeing two men absolutely down bad, desperate, and obsessing over a girl who is performing her craft, doing what she is best, with complete adoration. Well, yes! Sign me up.  

There’s no question that Tashi cares about both of her boys. But her love (if you can call it that) for them will never measure up to the actual love of her life: tennis. When euphemistic conversations come up during the movie that also have a more horny meaning, it’s never like that for Tashi. For her, it’s always about tennis. That’s why when we talk about her relationship with Art and Patrick, we also have to talk about their own relationship with tennis, because like I said, for Tashi, it’s always about tennis.

Art approaches tennis with a survivalist instinct. Because he grew up in a competitive environment, constantly overshadowed by Patrick, he plays percentage tennis, always making more calculated decisions. Patrick, on the other hand, approaches tennis like a performance, expressing himself artistically. We see him coast along on his raw talent in the earlier years, subverting traditional tennis fashion, such as his obtuse serve. For Tashi, in the different stages of her tennis career, she chooses between Art and Patrick as proxies to express her passion for the sport. Before the match that will ultimately ruin her tennis career, when she and Patrick are fooling around, he wants to talk about Aret but all she wants to talk about is tennis. He does not care about tennis as she does, viewing himself as this “great tennis player” who doesn’t need to put in the passion Tashi needs. This fight ends up being why she over-exerts herself in the match out of frustration, leading to her knee injury (and the end of her relationship with Patrick). 

When Tashi and Art finally get together, it’s when she sees the potential for Art to excel at tennis. She can live vicariously through his success. She knows that Art sees her not only as someone he’s been pining after for years but more importantly as a tennis player. He understands the dedication and discipline it takes to become great. It all comes to a head when Tashi cheats on Art, sleeping with Patrick the night before the Challengers match. There are many ways to interpret why she does this, but it’s all through the lens of her love for tennis. One reason could be to ensure that Patrick will lose to Art, hoping that this win will resurrect Art’s dwindling morale and confidence in his career. That way if he wins, he would qualify for the US Open, and won’t retire as a “failure.” On the other hand, with Art wanting to retire, Tashi could have lost her attraction to him, turning towards Patrick since he is more likely to win the match. There really is no definite answer in my eyes.

At the end of the day, Tashi derives more pleasure from Art and Patrick’s competition for her and less from her actual relationship with each of them individually. What they fail to realize throughout the movie is that their true competition to win Tashi isn’t each other, it’s tennis. And maybe she knows what she’s doing because ultimately, all she wanted to see was some good fucking tennis. And she did.

Tennis

Here’s the thing. I adore tennis. I’ve played it basically my whole life, so to see it displayed on the big screen so accurately was amazing. Tashi was absolutely correct when she said that tennis is a relationship. It’s not just hitting a ball with a racket to your opponent. When you fall into a rhythm, a groove with the other player, it’s almost like you’re dancing together. It’s a conversation between the two people. It’s beautiful when done right. 

In Challengers, despite all the hype around the throuple and the steamy implications behind closed bedroom doors, there are no sex scenes. This film has gained a reputation for being a raunchy tennis movie, but everyone focuses too much on the raunchiness that they forget about the most important aspect of the plot: tennis. Tennis is a metaphor for sex, a vessel for their love triangle. Well, of course. All of the matches throughout the timeline are sexually charged, and each interaction between the characters has a ping-pong energy, mimicking the feeling of an intense rally. I mean, what could be more tantalizing than the two players, especially when it’s two of the three protagonists, who are forbidden to touch? 

It’s erotic as hell. I mean, explain that last scene to me, where the camera follows the tennis ball as it’s being smashed across the court by Art and Patrick. It symbolizes the height of their relationship like they’re releasing all the anger and frustration that has built up over the past decade. It puts you at the edge of your seat, building you up to something even greater. The climax of their friendship. An orgasm, if you will. 

God, I fucking love this movie. 

I truly only brushed the surface of this movie (and quite messily, to be honest). I could go on for ages about the plot and the callbacks that are interwoven seamlessly throughout the time jumps, dissect every single scene, and probably write essays on each individual character. This movie is a masterpiece. Whether you’re into tennis or not, you can’t deny the artistry and brilliance that went into this piece of media. I could watch it a million times over and not get tired of it. And you know what? That’s just what I’ll do.