Presented out of competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, the fourth feature by Italian director and actor Andrea Di Stefano, My Tennis Maestro, tells the story of an encounter that will forever change the lives of its two protagonists. Led by a Pierfrancesco Favino literally inhabited by his character, the film depicts the tender and unexpected relationship between Raul Gatti (Favino), a tennis maestro with a rather tumultuous past, and Felice (played by the young and promising actor Tiziano Menichelli), a 13-year-old boy suffocated by the strict rules of his father, who thinks he could become a hopeful in international tennis.

Very far away from the subversive atmosphere of Challengers [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], which one cannot not think about when talking about a film set in the tennis world, My Tennis Maestro shares with it the extreme attention to details that take us in the middle of the 1980s, years marked by opulence and brazen machismo, but also by the fragility buried in the deepest parts of those who have experienced them. Although one could undoubtedly define My Tennis Maestro as a comedy all’italiana with its captivating character, its well placed jokes and its unavoidable happy ending, the film nevertheless manages to progressively detach itself from that formula and turn into a coming-of-age film. Certainly, it isn’t easy at first for Felice to go from the suffocating yet reassuring rigor of his father to the total freedom of his new coach, but once he understands the reasons hidden behind his eccentricities, it is a new world, more inclusive and multi-faceted that opens before the eyes of the frightened 13-year-old. During the car trip along the Italian coast where Felice will participate in a series of national tennis tournaments with the hope of making his father proud, the unlikely duo will get to know and learn to trust each other, but also explore the fragilities that, in different ways, set them apart.

Raul’s attitude, an example of the Italian macho man who never misses an opportunity to seduce every woman he sees, is so fastidious that one wonders whether they will be able to stand it for the almost two hours of the film. And yet, Favino’s talent allows one to understand, from the very first images, that underneath his swagger hides something much darker, secrets that nobody really knows. Amongst (many) defeats, lies, unexpected encounters and rule violations, the two characters will learn to appreciate each other for what they are: inevitably and exquisitely imperfect beings. The film therefore also talks about masculinity and the pressure, which was still huge at the end of the 1980s, to be a “real” man, all in one piece, strong and sure of himself. Together, Raul and Felice will challenge this myth despite themselves, reminding us of how important it is to cure, without shame, the wounds we carry inside. Entertaining without falling into excess, positive yet not overly optimistic, My Tennis Maestro is a comedy to be tasted with pleasure, sublimated by an excellent group of actors, music (both diegetic and extra-diegetic) meticulously crafted down to the smallest details (Bartosz Szpak) and high-level cinematography (Matteo Cocco).

My Tennis Maestro was produced by Indiana Production, Indigo Film and Vision Distribution. Playtime is handling international distribution.