Zendaya in her best role?  Why should you see Challengers at the cinema?

Zendaya in her best role? Why should you see Challengers at the cinema?

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While studying, Patrick and Art fall in love with Tashi. Friends, lovers and rivals all at once, the three find their paths crossing again years later. Their past and present collide, and previously unacknowledged tensions resurface.

3 good reasons to watch Challengers

Knowing that it was originally supposed to be released on a streaming platform and that it’s finally allowed in our theaters might be enough. Otherwise, here are some other good reasons to watch Challengers.

1 – Zendaya, world number 1

Of course, there’s Josh O’Connor and Mike Feist (one of the revelations of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story), both brilliant and complementary. But Zendaya shines. Even more so than in Malcolm & Marie or Euphoria. From there to say it’s his best role, there’s only one step we take faster than a 210km/h service.

His character Tash is certainly toxic (as are the other members of the central trio), he’s not the viewer who turns himself into Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Feist) in succession as we follow the tennis exchange. . He is the one who directs the game on and off the court. In a story that talks about the celebrity and brings us back to the actor himself.

Where everyone is playing a game that we are not used to before: “We are lucky to be able to play heroes so far away from us”Josh O’Connor, whose Patrick is particularly expansive, tells us. “Characters that sometimes have qualities that we want. I said to myself several times that I wanted to have the grandiose side of Patrick, the blind confidence that he has in himself.”

You are divided, confused: you want to love the characters and hate them in the same breath.

“And there’s not an ounce of competition between my two partners. We were very supportive of each other. But the thrill was: As soon as we yelled ‘Action!’, I became someone else.” “The more I got to know these two, the more I realized we were pretending.”Zendaya adds with a laugh.

“When you read a script, you get an idea of ​​what the characters might do and say. And there’s a version that you bring to them. Even if you decide you don’t like the character, at the time you read it, there’s this humanity and this empathy that everybody brings and makes you go ‘Ah, I really like them,’ no matter what decisions they make.”

“It just makes it more difficult. Because you’re divided, you’re confused: you want to love them and hate them in the same breath. It’s also a great testament to their work and what they brought to their characters.” We’re not going to fall into a cliché “Zendaya, Mike Feist and Josh O’Connor like you’ve never seen them before”But not too far.

2 – Flawless tennis scenes

Challengers is not as intense as its trailer suggested. But it’s just as popular. Its editing, which goes back and forth between the past and the present as the players exchange balls, gives more echoes to the match which is the heart of the intrigue.

And right during the tennis scenes. A sport that isn’t quite as cinematic (just look at how matches are shot on TV in wide, still shots) that some have tried. Like Richard Longcrane (The Most Beautiful Victory), the duo Valerie Faris – Jonathan Dayton (Battle of the Sexes) or even Ridley Scott, with this legendary part between Russell Crowe and Didier Bourdon in a big year.

Zendaya serves

Sometimes using digital tricks, Luca Guadagnino offers us breathtaking, rhythmic, intense sequences in which he tries different things (some of which we won’t reveal here to maximize the surprise effect) and takes us as far as possible. close to the players.

And when it captures verbal exchanges with the same intensity as tennis scenes (a classic but effective process), with characters throwing back flaming rackets and answers instead of balls, Challengers’ 2h15 doesn’t struggle to captivate.

3 – Music is fun

This is evident when we discover who we owe this electro soundtrack to: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. who already made rowing sexy on the social network with david fincher. After Bones and All, the duo finds Luca Guadagnino in a sharper tone, which greatly contributes to the success of the tennis scenes.

As so often since they’ve worked together, both men bring unexpected voices to classic orchestral scores. Which here goes well with the sound of balls being bounced back by a tennis racket.

And a version of the original soundtrack, remixed by German DJ Boys Noize, is available in anticipation of what’s heard in the film. All the more reason to watch it in theaters.

Commentaries collected by Maximilien Pierret in Paris on April 6, 2024

Source: Allocine

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