Top 10: The White Sport in Movies (Remastered), Part 2
We've updated our list of the best tennis movies of 2016. This time it's the turn of positions six to four.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Mar 12, 2022, 07:56 am
From today's perspective, our overview of tennis-related films from 2016 seems pretty outdated. It's no wonder that there have been some excellent newcomers in the last six years. And at the latest with the cinema highlight "King Richard", which has been nominated for six Oscars, tennis is once again on everyone's lips, even among film buffs. All reason enough for us to give the leaderboard a new coat of paint and bring it up to date. For a better overview, we have included ratings from international critic sites this time, so that you don't just have to trust our profound opinion. So - curtain up for places six to four and a good projection!
6. Final Set (France 2020)
Directed by Quentin Reynaud
starring: Alex Lutz, Ana Giradot, Kristin Scott Thomas
Similar to the premise of the light tennis romantic comedy Wimbledon, which we presented in the previous part of our top 10 list, a practically retired ex-professional wants to do it again in the film by French director Quentin Reynaud. In contrast to the Hollywood variant, however, the European concoction is much more dramatic. At the age of 37, Thomas Edison (Alex Lutz) wants to set one last exclamation point in his career. Although his doctor advises him against a comeback due to the damaged ligaments in his knees, our film hero doesn't want to know anything about that. Edison trains doggedly with the active support of his understanding wife Eve (Ana Giradot) and his mother Judith (Kirstin Scott Thomas / The English Patient, Only God Forgives). The relationship with his mother, herself a tennis coach, is strained, but in the end Thomas takes a lot of her advice to heart. A hoped-for wildcard for the French Open is not granted to him, so a difficult walk through the qualification is unavoidable. The never-ending struggles also have an impact on Thomas and Eve's married life. While the script of the film has clear strengths and weaknesses, the sports scenes convince with interesting perspectives and visually stunning slow motion. Anyone who can overlook one or the other dramaturgical weakness will be rewarded with a tennis film that is definitely worth seeing. ( IMDb: 6.6/10 , Rotten Tomatoes: 88/100 )
5. The Royal Tenenbaums (US 2001)
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow
"The Royal Tenenbaums" by cult director Wes Anderson (Grand Budapest Hotel, The Deep Sea Divers) is now a modern classic. The whimsical comedy laid the foundation for the now well-developed work of the seven-time Oscar-nominated American, both in terms of narrative and style. The Tenenbaums are a lucky family: Chas (Ben Stiller / Zoolander, Night at the Museum) is an economic genius, Richie (Luke Wilson / Old School, Legally Blonde) a charismatic tennis giant, and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow / Ironman, Shakespeare in Love). ) an award-winning screenwriter. But after the divorce of her parents Royal (Gene Hackman / Superman, The French Connection) and Etheline (Anjelica Huston / The Addams Family, Hexen hexen) everything collapses and the three children fall into severe depression. After years of silence, Royal returns to his family. He says he has terminal cancer. Will his illness bring the family back together? In addition to wonderfully off-beat humour, opulent settings and fascinatingly wacky characters, film-watching tennis fans are particularly impressed by Luke Wilson as a glamorous tennis pro - the mime succeeds in a wonderful pastiche of well-known figures such as John McEnroe and Björn Borg. In short: a must-see and rightly number five on our updated list. (Ratings: IMDb 7.6 , Metacritic 76/100 , Rotten Tomatoes 81/100 )
4. Strangers on a Train (USA 1951)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Farley Granger, Robert Walker
If you ask a true movie buff about a tennis-related film, there is a high probability that the title "The Stranger on the Train" will come up within a few moments. Not only is the classic from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, Vertigo), one of the best thrillers of all time, our beloved "white sport" is also embedded in the brilliant screen opus so perfectly, both optically and story-wise, that the film, once seen, will probably be remembered forever. Adapted from a novel by Patricia Highsmith, the story follows Guy Hanes, a successful and ambitious tennis pro with political ambitions (Farley Granger / Cocktail For A Corpse, Hans Christian Andersen), who meets Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker), a strangely open-hearted man, while on a train ride , meets. He proposes a curious deal to Guy: if Guy kills Bruno's hated father, he will retaliate by murdering Guy's wife. Guy is separated from his "better half" and has long wanted a divorce in order to marry a senator's daughter - but the wife refuses to agree. A psychodrama with a dense atmosphere unfolds from the perfidious plan, which you can only avoid if you suffer from an acute black and white allergy. And that would be a great pity. On the film platform imdb.com, Hitchcock's masterpiece ranked among the best 250 films of all time for a very long time. (Ratings: IMDb: 7.9/10 , Metacritc 88/100 , Rotten Tomatoes: 98/100 )
Honorable Mention:
Crime scene: Finale at Rothenbaum (D 1991)
Director: Dieter Kehler
with: Manfred Krug, Charles Brauer
The crime scene thriller "Finale am Rothenbaum" runs in our special out of competition. Episode 239 of the German-Austrian crime series takes inspectors Stoever (played by Manfred Krug, who has sadly passed away) and Brockmöller (Charles Brauer) to Rothenbaum in Hamburg, where they investigate the kidnapping of tennis pro Andreas "Andy" Behrens (who has striking similarities with Boris Becker has) should clarify. While the TV magazine TV-Spielfilm was quite impressed with "Game, set and match for Krug und Brauer", the TV film fell largely through the Tatort fans. Carl-Uwe Steeb can be seen a few times in the game scenes. (Ratings: IMDb: 5.3/10 )