Borg/McEnroe, a classic biopic electrified by its actors

Shia LaBeouf and Sverrir Gudnason take to the net this Wednesday evening on Arte.

Released in theaters at the end of 2017, Borg/McEnroe will return to free-to-air television tonight. First advise you.

Since the triumph of the Chariots of Fire in the early 80s, the biopic ” two in one ” has almost become a subgenre of the sports film. A film, a competition, two rival athletes, a double mirror portrait to be considered as two sides of the same coin. Recently, the overexciting Rush Ron Howard's film thus recounted the intertwined destinies of F1 drivers James Hunt and Nikki Lauda, ​​two men with opposing temperaments but united by the same taste for speed and excellence. A sort of Duelists motorized. Borg/McEnroe is the latest incarnation, as tense, serious and focused as Rush was unbridled, fun and light.

The film by Janus Metz Pedersen (revealed in 2010 with Armadillo) tells the story of the two tennis players' clash in the legendary Wimbledon final in 1980. If you were old enough to watch TV at the time, or if you're even slightly interested in tennis, you'll definitely know this match. Björn Borg, at the dawn of the 80s, was this mythical Swedish hero, handsome and powerful like a demigod, a block of ice whose extraordinary powers of concentration fueled endless conversations, a giant who roamed the tennis courts of the world in search of an opponent his own size. John McEnroe, on the other hand, was the bubbling and ill-mannered American, who yelled at the umpires and the public while spitting and chewing gum. Two opposing ideas about sport, the relationship with the media, and theattitude in general.

Borg/McEnroe therefore draws two parallel portraits, capturing the athletes in the weeks leading up to the famous encounter, gradually insinuating the idea that, as dissimilar as they may be, the two men are the only ones who can understand each other. In terms of the biopic, the portrait of a champion, the film follows an extremely classic plot and develops expected themes: the solitude and existential anguish of athletes subjected to extreme pressure and superhuman tasks, fragments of childhood resurfacing in flashbacks, where we understand how the fear of failure and the taste for competition were instilled in them…

Nothing new since Hugh Hudson or Raging Bull. But that doesn't stop the film from quickly scoring points thanks to its stylish cast. Sverrir Gudnason is an actor of Icelandic origin unknown to the part of the Earth's population that doesn't watch Wallander – Criminal Investigations – and here we discover his perfect movie face, a beauty that is both noble and rogue like Tom Hiddleston (we wonder why this man is not yet in the credits of a Hollywood film). And Shia LaBeouf was of course the ideal choice for McEnroe, the rookie snotty and overly sensitive, irresistible loudmouth, the mad dog with a heart as big as that. As usual, our man LaBeouf puts all his strength into the battle, and here seems to talk a lot about himself, his ultra-sensitive relationship with the world and the press. The final confrontation between the two men, measured and superbly crafted, is the great moment of the film (thank goodness!), a fireworks coda that can be appreciated almost like the climax of a musical. And if you don't know anything about tennis, it's even better, since you don't know who wins in the end.