Almost halfway through Luca Guadagnino’s dazzling tennis film challengerLeading collegiate athlete phenom Tashi (Zendaya) and recent US Open Junior champion Patrick (Josh O’Connor) do what moviegoers have been begging to do: go wild.
It’s hard to take your eyes off them. You are young. They burn. O’Connor literally rips off Zendaya’s billowing “I Told Ya” T-shirt with his teeth.
But if the smart one millennial Cinema lovers can look away from the star athletes on the bed and maybe spot another figure in the room (spoiler: this is a film about throuples, by the way). Let your gaze wander from their bodies, turn your ears away from the heated conversation about the unofficial third person in their relationship, and then it hovers over the lovers’ heads as a silent observer of the passion unfolding on Tashi’s pink sheets .
“Are we still talking about tennis?” Patrick asks Tashi between the treats and cuddles and the teenage angst. No, my friends, we’re talking about Stephanie Meyers’ dusk.
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The book is the only recognizable cover in Tashi’s collection of novels, photographs and other paraphernalia such as her iPod Nano, and could easily be a fitting early childhood prop. (Ambitious Twihards might rightly point out that by the time of the 2007 make-out sesh, the novel had already been on shelves for two years, and the blockbuster film adaptation was still a year away from release.)
However, in a film where every exchange is full of subtext, where every image serves as a sweet callback, and where something as small as a chair being pulled closer elicits gasps and screams, it’s hard to believe , that the book should not warrant further study. It also feels painfully obvious. Why shouldn’t one of the most famous love triangles of all time (yes, I said it) find its place in a film about the same subject? Does Tashi dream of werewolves and vampires off the field?
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“Sensual longing radiates in every scene challenger“Although the love scenes are the most shocking because they show so little sex,” Mashable’s Kristy Puchko wrote in her review of the film. “And yet you’ll be left feeling the heat as Guadagnino has put together one of the hottest love triangles the cinema has ever seen…if not the hottest.”
Sexual stimuli in the service of romantic longings? Let me tell you about a certain young adult series… The Internet also made the connection, albeit somewhat indirectly. “Team Art” and “Team Patrick” release flooded timelines almost immediately after the premiere – some of us still haven’t removed Team Edward from our bios. Viewers are excited to see who Tashi (or actually who she) should vote for. They try to find villains where there are only confused teenagers and jaded adults.
Was So in 2008. And that means we have to figure out who is the who in this tortured love triangle.
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Edward and Jacob and Patrick and Art
Not a line in the challenger The film stinks more dusk Lore as when aspiring teenage double partners Patrick and Art (Mike Faist) are given the nickname “Fire and Ice,” which is essentially identical to the “two sides” Bella must choose between in the series. Vampires, walking marble statues, represent ice, while werewolves are problematically “warm-blooded” and “fiery.” What do heat and water do? Oh yes, steam.
Meyers loves the metaphor so much that it opens the third part of the book series: darknesswith a quote from a poem by Robert Frost aptly titled “Fire and Ice”:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in the ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I agree with those who prefer fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough about hate
To say that for Destruction Ice
It’s great too
And would be enough.
In the world of challenger, Tashi – who is currently facing a similar apocalyptic decision – questions the distinction: “What is what?” Patrick, always pushing the limits of his partners, leaves the decision up to her. “What do you think?”
Good question. At first glance, Art, the hairless boy wonder, could be called that challenger Edward Insert – a radiant, chiseled white boy who would do anything for the woman he loves. In the film’s understated fire and ice metaphor, Art’s calm demeanor and playing style on the court are cooler than Patrick’s swagger and loud personality. He is the pious Edward to Patrick’s fierce Jacob.
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But this film isn’t about what’s on the surface. And if dusk teaches us one thing: the only thoughts that matter are Bella‘S.
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For Tashi (who is her least favorite). dusk counterpart admittedly), Patrick is the bigger gamble. He embodies passion, hunger and desire – just like Edward does for Bella. She’s drawn to him because they’ll do anything to repel each other. He’s attracted to her because he’s obsessed with finding her out, and he loves letting her know when he’s done it (Edward canonically notices Bella for the first time because she’s the only person he literally knows can’t read your mind).
Art, on the other hand, represents stability. In adulthood, he is Tashi’s connection to home life, as normal as one can get under the circumstances, and he fights for it at every turn. She loves that she can live vicariously through him. Most importantly, Art loves Tashi Despite Patrick does everything in his power to convince her that he is better for her than his former friend.
For those who are only familiar with the films directed by Kristen Stewart, there is exactly the same thing. The scene where Patrick smugly strolls around the Stanford tennis courts in a pair of white Ray-Bans? He manages to evoke the same dizzying screams as if Edward (played by Robert Pattinson) were to get out of his sleek Volvo and put on a pair of black sunglasses. As a hapless adult, Patrick uses his charm and attractiveness to get a free room from an older hotel manager. Edward employs him with a (somewhat predatory?) school secretary and again with a restaurant landlady. In the aforementioned make-out scene, Patrick’s jump on Tashi’s bed almost instantly mimics the scene where Edward and Bella kiss for the first time and Tashi’s pink sheets are replaced with iconic purple sheets. In a climactic scene, Patrick drives erratically with Tashi in the passenger seat – a move straight from Edward’s playbook.
Meanwhile, a tense cafeteria exchange between Art and Tashi reflects Jacob’s recurring conversation with Bella that Edward is fundamentally insecure, that he doesn’t love her (he just wants to consume her), and that she deserves truer love. Tashi defends herself. Has anyone asked what she wants? Does she want to be loved? She wants to be a vampire – I mean, a tennis player!
After their life-changing injury, Art and Tashi practice pushing themselves to the limit on a rehabilitated knee. Art doesn’t want to hurt her, so Tashi begs him to push her as far as he can. Bella famously uses Jacob to get her into dangerous situations (all in the service of winning back Edward, to note).
The term “lapdog” is used interchangeably as an insult in both universes – challenger misses the opportunity to reference “bloodsucking,” but the film’s disdain for Patrick’s wealthy upbringing might be enough to drive home the leech metaphor. O’Connor and Pattinson master the grins.
Patrick moves through the film with an intense desire to be loved, masked only by an aura of arrogance and self-hatred that he and Tashi continually throw at each other. The excuse given is that Patrick never had to grow up. (Stuck forever at 17? Sounds familiar.) Meanwhile, Edward is notoriously and dangerously self-deprecating.
The sweet nature of art hides a deeper talent for manipulation and an inherent cleverness. He pricks his best friend’s wounds with his fingers before their big game and hides his jealousy with deep respect for Tashi. Jacob, who started out as a fun-loving childhood best friend, transforms into a fighter who sows doubt in Edward and growls at the other men who meddle in Bella’s life.
Immortality, although not such an open topic in challenger as in dusk, plays an additional role. Patrick begs Tashi to take care of him again and threatens her with the death penalty. Art, tired of a life in professional sports, is “ready to die,” and doesn’t want Tashi to live? Maybe if she’s still stuck in that hotel room at the Junior US Open, she can live with Patrick forever.
Other parallels: An inherited engagement ring from a beau’s grandmother leads to a tense revelation. A child’s name (“You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?!”) is spoken with contempt.
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Obviously the comparisons are not really 1:1. dusk is about repressed desire while challenger does anything but hold back. Unlike Bella, Tashi is a steadfast, passionate character who makes her decisions quickly and decisively. Patrick’s quick decisions bear little resemblance to Edward’s careful planning. Art is not a motorcyclist stereotype of boyishness. It’s hard to imagine Guadagnino leafing through Meyer’s prose for inspiration.
And at the end of the day, none of these men are Tashi’s true loves. Everything she does is to watch “damn good tennis.”
If Tashi is Bella, then Tennis is the real Edward in this twisted romance.
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challenger‘ dusk References are a fun thought experiment for those who have come of age with the supernatural throuple. It’s a universe where the Edward x Jacob fanfiction is actually canon – a true love triangle dusk prudish tendencies failed. A take on the story where Bella follows her urges – one where she’s not afraid to be called a villain if it means she might get what she wants. A version of the story where everyone gets their hands dirty, the boys kiss, and the winner doesn’t matter at all.
challenger is now in the cinema.