If you’ve seen Challengers, you may or may not have found the ending confusing. Let Zendaya explain it to you, as she does for the New York Times.
If you haven’t seen the movie, SPOILER ALERT!
At the end of Luca Guadagnino’s tennis movie, the camera zooms in and freezes on Tashi (Zendaya) while she screams at Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist). They’re at match point. The volleying back and forth is intense which ends with Art jumping over the net and into Patrick’s arms.
SPOILER END
Again, if you were confused as to how the movie ends, you’re most likely not alone. Even Zendaya’s mom had a different take from her daughter.
How does Challengers end?
“My mom read the ending so different,” she said.
“My mom is like, ‘She’s pissed because they realize that they don’t need her anymore.’ I was like, ‘But I smile a little bit at the end!’ My mom was watching it behind me and every time my character does something bad or cheats on her husband or whatever, she’s like, ‘Why do you do that?’” Zendaya added.
“She’s so angry with Tashi, she’s so upset. But it’s interesting, I was like, ‘What? I don’t know where you got that from.’ I’m in the movie and I feel like I have a good sense of what I thought this ending was supposed to be, and she was like, ‘No. This is what it is. So sorry,” the actress continued.
Guadagnino seems to agree with Zendaya’s mom’s take, “Tashi’s a director. She’s like Lermontov in ‘The Red Shows,’ she makes things happen. And maybe your mom is right, maybe Tashi wants them to find each other … I like what your mom says, because it adds another level that goes beyond our intentions. For me, she smiles at the end, if you’re going to freeze frame.”
According to the actress, she takes Tashi’s expression at the end as saying “Yes!” in approval. Her mom, on the other, end saw it differently.
O’Connor thinks the Zendaya’s mother has a cool take on it.
“I really like that read. I think that’s the point, everyone’s got a different perspective on it,” he said.
The director turned to his stars and asked, “Isn’t it so beautiful that we have an open ending that people like?”
“Because everybody says, ‘No. Never open ending. You have to know what happens at the end,” he added.
While Zendaya calls the ending “confusing,” Faist prefers to see it as “interpretative.” The box office results say $15 million in its debut.
