This article contains major spoilers for “Challengers.”

Given our Puritanical origins, Americans tend to have a strange relationship with the concept of kink. It’s only within the last half-century or so that popular culture has allowed for the exploration and broadcast of what used to be taboo topics: Things as basic and human as the general act of sex, the proliferation of violence, and so on. Prior to that watershed time in American history, so much of life was hidden behind closed doors, causing the general public persona of the average citizen to be repressed or sublimated.

While America is certainly not alone when it comes to rabidly enjoying sports — whether participating directly or merely observing them being played — it feels like our culture uses the pastimes as one of several outlets with which to get in touch with our baser, more primal selves. If football is a stand-in for the gladiator games of ancient Rome, and stock car racing is a way of spitting in the face of death, then tennis, a more “civilized” sport by comparison, celebrates the physical. Sure, there may be practical reasons for tennis players to wear very little clothing, but of course such costuming best allows for the players’ idealized physical forms to be on display at all times.

“Challengers,” the latest film from Italian provocateur Luca Guadagnino, is an erotic thriller where the majority of sex between its three protagonists is sublimated into both the mind games they play with each other as well as the literal tennis matches between them. Sex, at least for these characters, is less about pleasure and more about power; the point isn’t procreation, love, addiction, or hedonism, but competition. Speaking of sublimation, the entire movie is structured like one extended tennis match, but it can also be seen as a years-long role-play session between the threesome at its core. After all, is there much of a fundamental difference between a match’s exciting conclusion and a sexual climax? If there is a line separating them, then “Challengers” erases it.

For Tashi, Patrick, and Art, tennis is everything

In “Challengers,” the game is all-encompassing, and it’s made evident even before the movie properly begins. Setting up not just the theme but the structure of the film to follow, we see Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) locked in heated, sweaty combat on the tennis court with Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), as they volley the tennis ball back and forth before the film’s production logos appear. Subsequent to that, it’s revealed that this particular match will be the movie’s wraparound, its core timeline. It’s August 2019, and Donaldson and Zweig are competing at a challenger match sponsored by Phil’s Tire Town in New Rochelle, New York while a mysterious woman watches the match intensely from the packed bleachers.

Flashing back to two weeks earlier, Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes properly introduce Donaldson and that woman watching the match, which turns out to be his wife, Tashi (Zendaya). The two are a power couple in the tennis world, with Donaldson a major star on the court and Tashi a power player behind the scenes, acting as her husband’s coach, agent, and representative in just about every aspect. That includes publicity, as shown when Tashi makes some edits to a proposed car ad featuring the two of them and makes sure that she isn’t eclipsed in the ad by her husband.

The Donaldsons seem incredibly comfortable. Their daughter, Lily (A.J. Lister), loves living in hotels a little too much, and Tashi’s mother (Nada Despotovich) doesn’t mind essentially being a full-time babysitter for Lily. They may not be all that happy, however, especially as Tashi nurses what seems to be an old injury while Art is too distracted by the intimidating hero worship his reputation alone buys him. His shaken self-confidence causes him to lose an important match, which means trouble for his potential to make it to the U.S. Open. As a way of getting her husband’s mojo back, Tashi books him on the challenger circuit in New Rochelle, assuring Art that slumming it slightly there will allow for a series of easy, ego-boosting wins.

Patrick Zweig faces a fascinating opponent

Meanwhile, Zweig couldn’t be in a more different place than his wealthy and famous soon-to-be-opponent. At first, he’s attempting to fall on the mercies of a hotel clerk to have a place to sleep for the night before the tournament begins. Although his charm doesn’t take him as far as he hopes (his initial confidence indicating that it used to take him further in the past), a gay male couple can’t help but openly comment on the young man’s figure. In other words, Zweig may not have his mojo working at full force right now, but he once had it, and he may get it back.

Forced to drive to the venue and sleep in his car in the parking lot, Zweig is saved from trouble (if not from embarrassment) by playing it off like he’d arrived to check in early when an official discovers him the next morning. In the registration office, he can’t help but look hungrily at the check-in clerk’s breakfast sandwich, which is very clearly labeled as a sandwich from Dunkin’. It’s one of many instances in the film where Guadagnino satirizes the way corporate sponsorship is all over the court and the athletes themselves, drawing a distinction between the players’ public and private personas.

Zweig’s private life is about to catch up with him in a big way: The clerk mentions that Donaldson is the star player of this year’s tournament, news which seems to light a fire in Patrick’s eyes. Right away, his priorities are tested, as the clerk further explains that the hard-up-for-cash Zweig could choose to throw the tournament early in order to get paid sooner, or he could play to win — including potentially facing Donaldson — but that would mean a longer wait for money. As Zweig hungrily devours the sandwich, it seems he barely needs to think over what his decision will be.

The Challengers love triangle begins to form

Flashback to thirteen years ago, when Art and Patrick weren’t bitter rivals and were the best of friends instead. Their connection during their late teens is strong enough that Art asks Patrick to throw a game they’ll play the following day just for the sake of Art’s grandma wishing to see him win, and Patrick happily agrees. As a doubles team on the court, the boys even have a spiffy, colorful nickname: “Fire and Ice.”

But both boys begin to run hot when they first lay eyes on Tashi Duncan. Already a star at the age of 18, Tashi’s prowess on the court has given her a reputation as the next big thing in tennis, and both Art and Patrick can’t help but agree as they watch her play. During this particular match, Tashi closes her victory with what seems like a primal scream; a moment more specific than just an athlete letting off steam.

Patrick convinces a reluctant Art to attend a swanky afterparty at Tashi’s beachside home, whereupon the duo work up the courage to approach her. After hanging around while the party dwindles to a close, they get Tashi’s attention again, the three sharing a more private conversation wherein Art asks Tashi about that scream on the court. Tashi cryptically shrugs it off as something between herself and her opponent, explaining how tennis is less of a mere game and more of a relationship between players. Although Patrick asks for Tashi’s number, she declines, but Patrick persists, inviting her back to the boys’ hotel room, an invitation which she also appears to turn down.

The sexy Challengers make-out scene takes things to the next level

Although Art and Patrick don’t actually believe Tashi will show up, the girl proves the boys wrong by doing just that, joining them in their hotel room. As the three young people flirt, Tashi gets Art and Patrick to reveal a lot about themselves: Not only did they meet while attending a tennis academy together, but they also learned to masturbate together, with Patrick showing Art how it’s done.

Sensing the sexual tension in the room reaching a fever pitch, Tashi invites the boys to join her on the bed at the same time. Initially kissing each of them one by one, she next encourages them to kiss her at the same time, before removing herself and letting things take their course as Art and Patrick make out fervently. Satisfied with what she’s accomplished and what she’s started, she decides to leave, but not before putting down the boys’ next challenge: She will give her number to whoever wins their match tomorrow. Although Art reminds Patrick that he said he’d throw the match for Art’s grandma, Patrick declares that earlier promise null and void.

Some time later, it’s revealed that Patrick won that fateful match, and has been dating Tashi ever since. Although the boys are still friends, there’s a new strain on their relationship — not just from the Tashi situation, but from life pulling them in different directions. Art (along with Tashi) has enrolled in Stanford, while Patrick is making a go of it as a professional athlete, choosing to skip any college education.

For now, Art is satisfied by living vicariously through Patrick’s relationship, begging his friend for details in a way that seems half jealous, half curious. Patrick, feigning chivalry, insists that he’s not going to flat out tell Art whether he’s slept with Tashi yet or not. However, he describes a particular tic that Art has when serving on the court, wherein he places the ball in the middle of the racket. Art proposes that, if Patrick has slept with Tashi, he use Art’s tic while serving, which Patrick subsequently does with a knowing smirk.

Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan experiences a radical change

Back in 2019, Zweig finds himself winning matches (thereby coming closer to facing Donaldson) but still in need of cash and a place to crash. His solution is to swipe right like a maniac on Tinder, eventually taking a woman on a date at a swanky hotel. It just so happens that this hotel is the one Art and Tashi are staying at, and he encounters Tashi in the lobby, who tells him to stay away from her.

Just as Patrick is setting himself up to play with Tashi in 2019, years earlier it’s Art who’s attempting the same with Tashi while they’re both at Stanford. Taking Tashi to lunch one afternoon, Art confesses that Patrick doesn’t seem to really love her. Tashi sees through the ruse, declaring herself as not needing love and observing that Art may be “the worst friend in the world.” Patrick doesn’t seem to think so, however; when he comes to visit Tashi at school, he observes the meek Art’s jealousy and attempts at manipulation and actually seems thrilled by them.

Patrick is less enthused by Tashi’s attempts at manipulating him, though. During a steamy near-sexual encounter in her dorm room, Patrick calls out Tashi’s offer to coach him as her bid to make him her submissive. Nearly breaking up with him then and there, it’s when Tashi shatters her knee during a match (which Patrick is pointedly not present for) that she decides to end things with Zweig, especially upon learning that she can no longer play professionally again.

Three years later, a chance encounter leads Art to take Tashi on a date to Applebees, whereupon he confesses his long-standing crush on her and indicates that he’s very open to taking her advice on and off the court. Finally, Tashi has her pet man, her surrogate player — after all, as she essentially said earlier, what’s love got to do with it?