Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes explains the movie’s stunning ending and why it really doesn’t matter who wins the final match.
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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Challengers
Summary
- The ending of
Challengers
is purposely abrupt to provide catharsis for the audience, focusing on the emotional climax rather than the match outcome. - Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes believes the true resolution lies in characters expressing themselves through playing tennis, not in winning.
- Kuritzkes aims for the audience to experience a moment of revelation or catharsis in the film’s ending, seeking emotional impact over a clear resolution.
Challengers ended at the perfect point, according to screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. The drama stars Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor), who each perform as tennis players who are desperate to make their names known in the tennis world. All the while, they struggle to balance their romantic lives, friendships, and the pressures that come with life on the court. The movie was released on April 26, 2024 in the United States.
While Challengers has enjoyed exceptional reviews, the ending is relatively abrupt. Instead of revealing the true winners of the final match between O’Connor’s Patrick and Faist’s Art, the movie ends just as the two embrace mid-match. In an interview with Today, Kuritzkes explained that the conclusion was a way of providing catharsis for the audience. Check out his full quote below:
“The question of ‘Who wins the match?’ just felt so totally irrelevant… I knew that the movie (was) over the moment all their cards are out on the table. In many ways, this is a movie about people who can only really speak their hearts on the tennis court, through action, through playing. There’s so many things that they want to say to each other, there’s so many things they want to understand about each other, or recognize about each other — that they can only really get to when they’re playing. [Tashi just wanted] some good f—— tennis. I think by the end for me, they’re playing all of a sudden. Art and Patrick are playing a real point, and somehow Tashi is playing, too. So the movie’s over. Those people, they exist the moment we meet them, and they stop existing the moment we leave… I go to movies to be pushed towards a moment of catharsis, or a moment of revelation, or something. That’s the thing I’m seeking after: that moment. That moment should feel like a gust of wind. Once it hits you, you got what you came for.”
Developing…
Source: Today
