Challengers is the sensual, satisfying cure for sexless cinema

America has a puritan streak. Politically, individual states and the federal government continue to look for ways to achieve that ban abortion completely (And birth controlAnd healthcare for transgender peopleAnd books), while that was the case on social media one hand-wringing discussion after another over whether films should ever contain sex scenes. The push to get blockbusters to a global audience has come widely noticeable restrictions on sexual content – or even simple kissing. In modern studio films, as RS Benedict put it, everyone is beautiful and no one is hot.

All this makes Luca Guadagnino’s sweaty, panting sports and sex romance drama Challengers feels like a thumb nose (or a raised middle finger) aimed at American puritanism and an increasingly sex-negative culture. Challengers is a sharp and punchy film, full of big emotions, expressed through rapid-fire dialogue in some scenes and through quiet, sensual physicality in others, all shot with creative verve and aggressive in-your-face energy. Everyone in this movie is chasing sex and success, and combining those things in unapologetically provocative ways.

Challengers is also a film about tennis.

Zendaya, who also co-produced the film, stars as Tashi Donaldson, a former teenage tennis superstar whose competitive days ended with a traumatic knee injury. When she reluctantly and angrily gave up her own tennis career, she became a professional coach and managed her husband, Art (West Side Story standout Mike Faist), to a string of championships and a lucrative career.

But Art has reached a plateau and is failing on the field, and his lack of trust is destroying their relationship. In what seems like a last-ditch effort to inspire him, Tashi books him for a small regional tennis tournament far below his usual range, where he ultimately faces Patrick (The crown‘s Josh O’Connor), a former friend and tennis partner who is also Tashi’s ex.

At first, it seems that Tashi has set Art up to play a challenging match in which anger and jealousy can reignite his competitive drive and get him back in the game. But in reality, her motives go much deeper. The most of Challengers takes place in flashbacks that jump back and forth in time, exploring the tangled relationships between these three people, who have complicated feelings for each other, both in every possible combination and as a trio.

Challengers is also sizzling sexy.

Playwright, novelist, musicianAnd YouTube personality Justin Kuritzkes (the man behind “Potion seller”) structures the screenplay so that each scene reveals a telling new wrinkle about the protagonists – even scenes that seem to merely be a summary of what we already know from previous series. Knowing that Tashi retired from the competition due to injury is one thing, but seeing how it happened and how it shaped her relationships is a revelation. Each previous development between Art and Patrick similarly adds new layers, until what seemed like a simple grudge match has dizzyingly complicated nuances.

That script is a great three-course meal for Faist and O’Connor. They can trade facial and heel roles from scene to scene and era to era, with Art and Patrick helping and hurting each other in equal measure. But it’s an absolute smorgasbord for Zendaya, who has never been given this much room to stretch even in leading roles. Tashi is a gratifyingly rich character, both righteously angry at the thwarting of her ambitions and cruelly angry at all the men who have the audacity to continue playing the game that was taken from her. She hungers for affection and withholds it at the same time, alternately sensually curious and coldly level-headed, ambitious and exhausted, conflicted and confident. She’s the kind of character media master’s theses are made of, and unraveling Tashi’s conflicting motives and how she integrates them will likely become a pop culture obsession in the coming months.

Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Images/YouTube

For his part, Guadagnino treats what could be a visually straightforward relationship/sports drama as a laboratory, where he tinkers with unlikely ways to convey action and emotion on screen. Tennis can be visually repetitive for anyone not deeply invested in the athleticism of the sport, so he and cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom find surprising places to focus the camera during matches: on Tashi’s shadow as she thrashes an opponent, on tellingly empty chairs at the stands, or on the ball itself, in a series of dizzying shots where the camera seems to fly back and forth over the net at blinding speed. There’s a lot of tennis in this film, but the director and DP always make it interesting to watch. And the breathtaking, driving techno score, from soundtracks by stalwarts Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, gives each new match a heart-pounding sense of escalation and intensity.

But the erotic character dynamics certainly help. Challengers avoids actual graphic sex, but Guadagnino doesn’t shy away from putting sensual hunger on screen. (Not surprisingly, from the man who sloppily copulated Timothée Chalamet with a peach in it Call me by your nameand giving an easily seduced victim a hand job and a fatal wound at the same time Bones and all.) The trio Tashi/Art/Patrick engage in tongue-heavy make-out sessions as if they’re all trying to devour each other. Both men weaponize their bare skin against each other, with Patrick turning a naked visit to a sauna into a boastful, territorial act, and Art taking off his shirt to emphatically bask in the sun between matches. The primal dominance displayed throughout the film is more sexually provocative than any primitive attempt at heroic romance in a Marvel film.

Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Images/YouTube

Tashi owns her own sexuality in endlessly surprising ways throughout the film, pitting Patrick and Art against each other as she watches critically from the sidelines, or passionately embracing them in bed. Much of this film is about how erotic desire sublimates into competitive performance, and vice versa – especially for Tashi, who lost one of those outlets in the prime of her life and is constantly pushing the boundaries of the others.

But just as clear Challengers is about Tashi’s control over the two men in her life, both of whom want her, and both of whom understand that she will only tolerate one of them as long as they both acknowledge her dominance. There’s more than a little of Spike Lee’s She must have it In this story, a woman of color confidently navigates multiple partnerships and prioritizes her own freedom and pleasure over commitment and domesticity.

That theme felt radical in 1986, when Lee’s film premiered — especially for a story centered on a black woman. But the context and state of the culture make the same dynamic feel even more radical today. In an environment that is culturally prudish about sex on screen and politically repressive about recognizing female autonomy, Challengers is a downright provocation. It’s a sports drama where sex is openly one of the biggest stakes in the big game, and an emotional drama that’s frank and even confrontational about how sensuality can undermine relationships as much as they strengthen them.

The fact that it is beautifully crafted and built certainly adds spice to the mix. But perhaps most importantly: Challengers is just fun – playful, aggressive and exciting to watch. It’s unlike anything else to hit theaters in recent years, and it’s enough to make viewers wonder why anyone was willing to let these types of films go.

Challengers debuts in theaters on April 26.