Luca Guadagnino Challengers was released relatively early last year, but remained one of the best movies of 2024. The intense and sensual tennis romance starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor had the public asphyxiated and The challengers The reviews were stellar. From EDM soundtrack to complicated but horny group dynamicsThere really wasn’t much to complain about, until the film’s divisive closing.
The closing scene of Challengers sees a kind of reconciliation between Love triangle between Tashi, Patrick and Artwork.But there are still many unanswered questions that leave the public frustrated. However, writer Justin Kuritzkes said People does not feel the need to clear up the remaining loose ends, even if this results in a ambiguous closure:
I hope this isn’t a frustrating answer for you, but what really gets me with that is, when everyone is talking to each other at the end and all their cards are on the table, and the kids are playing the best tennis of their lives and Tashi is playing tennis in her own way for the first time in years, for me, at that moment I got what I wanted from the movie. And the party is irrelevant. Who wins the game is irrelevant because we have gone beyond that.
Saying “I hope you don’t find this frustrating” gives off the same vibe as “No offense, but” before saying something forceful. But, unfortunately, he is right and now there are 30 loves.
Whether you like their response or not, the characters reflect a clear (deliberate) irrelevance to the game in the end.
At match point to break the tie, Faist’s Artwork Donaldson and O’Connor’s Patrick Zweig are battling closer and closer to the purple. A hint of a smile appears on Artwork’s face as both men strive to make crazy saves.
It gets to the point where the crowd gasps when Donaldson launches into the air to hit the ball, clearly ready to land on the net above Zweig. The scene takes place in slow motion. Patrick drops his racket to catch his old friend, the two embrace and the result of the match is forgotten.
Just before the credits roll, Tashi shouts “LET’S GO!” before his fierce expression turns into joy and he claps along with everyone else.
So that’s it. Who ended up winning the tennis match? Even more importantly, who wins the game within the game, the game of love? Who ends up with Tashi or do the guys choose their relationship over her? What does Artwork tell Tashi about her romance with Patrick? What does Tashi do when Artwork retires?
These are valid questions people should ask themselves after watching ChallengersBut the writer says that what he likes about movies are their endings, sometimes seemingly abrupt:
What everyone ends up doing in their lives, I don’t know. I guess it’s fun for the audience to think of their own answers to that question. I have always liked that about movies, that these characters exist when we meet them and cease to exist when the movie ends. Even if a film imagines someone’s entire life, from cradle to grave, it is always a synthetic container for the kind of chaos of human life and relationships. You’re always getting just a small window into something much bigger. So if people want to fill in the rest, great. But for me, I got what I came for.
I love that he doesn’t care about pleasing the audience and, in the end, his plan still worked. All the elements came together in a way that made many almost feel disappointed when they left the theater, not because they didn’t enjoy the movie, but because there wasn’t more of it.
Conveying complex character emotions to an audience in such a fascinating way is something the duo Kuritzkes and Guadagnino do very well. It is something that they have also continued to do, because even before finishing Challengershe call me by your name The director asked the former playwright to adapt queer for him.
Both Challengers and queer ended with high praise from critics and audiences alike. However, of Guadagnino’s films, only the tennis film’s music was among the best. Golden Globe Winners 2025 last week.
However, fans are eager to know more about these two creatives and hence, the writer-director duo has already signed up for work with queer star Daniel Craig again about an upcoming DC superhero project.
You haven’t seen the end of his brilliance yet, it’s just the beginning.
