'Borg vs. McEnroe' Film Review
Back in the day, I used to host a “Breakfast at Wimbledon party. I mean, who doesn’t like to drink champagne and eat strawberries and cream at nine o’clock in the morning? But in reality, the reason was that Wimbledon was cool then, an extremely big deal. That certainly has waned over the years, especially in this country for a variety of reasons, certainly the biggest one is that the United States now really stinks in tennis, especially on the men’s side.
That certainly wasn’t the case back in the eighties, when I was having this party. At the start of 1980, seven Americans were ranked in the top ten, and at the end there were seven also, 11 different players total. Right now John Isner is the only American in the top ten, and he squeezes in there right at the number ten spot. There are just three U.S. men in the top forty in the world.
In the middle of 1980 was an epic Wimbledon, capped by a final often tabbed as the greatest match ever played. The days leading up to the tournament, and the two weeks of play, are at the heart of “Borg VS McEnroe”, a film that came out earlier this year. It was in limited release, and came and went quickly despite fine reviews, which the film deserves. I missed it, until seeing it on a flight home from Europe. While wishing I had seen it in the theatre, since the tennis scenes are outstanding, it nonetheless is a fine watch.
The movie is very Swedish, from the director Janus Metz on down. A portion of the dialogue is in Swedish, with English subtitles. The focus is far more on Borg than McEnroe, although the fact that Shia LaBoeuf was basically born to play Johnny Mac, raises that character to a greater level. La Boeuf’s offscreen reputation certainly mirrors McEnroe’s on court behavior (Mac once famously told a chair umpire to “go f&%k your mother”). Mac’s firecracker temper is well-chronicled in the movie, although there is far more depth to the role.
Borg, as played by Sverrir Gudnason, is a tortured soul. Gudnason is a virtual doppelganger for Borg (in fact most every character looks remarkably like the real people they are portraying), and to say that Borg is portrayed as insular is as big an understatement as calling McEnroe’s language “salty”. Completely dedicated to his craft, and trapped by his rock star fame, Borg keeps almost completely to himself, communicating little, and sharing mere tidbits with his fiancée, Mariana Simionescu, a female player. (I was intensely interested in tennis at the time, so I actually remembered her multisyllabic name).
Borg has a complex, and now strained, relationship, with his longtime coach Lennart Bergelin, played by familiar face Stellan Skarsgard (quite good in the most complicated role in the film). He started coaching Borg from the time he was about twelve years old, and helped him channel his hot temper (close to as volcanic as Mac’s) and helped form his icy on-court demeanor.
The film uses flashbacks effectively to Borg and McEnroe’s childhoods. The youngest of three childhood versions of Borg is played by his son Leo, which works to a tee. Borg’s parents are a distant father and a caring mom, and McEnroe’s are demanding and almost impossible to impress. Asked by his mother how he did on a test, McEnroe responds that he got a 96, best in his class. “Well, how many children are in your class, John???” Told it was thirty, she informs him there are thousands of people he must outclass in the real world.
As Borg seeks his then-record 5th Wimbledon title, and McEnroe his first, the top two players in the world are consumed with each other, and winning at all costs, to a fault. Besides the sunny on-court tennis scenes, this is a VERY intense film, shot almost entirely in low, diffused light. Gudnason plays Borg almost catonically, albeit very effectively, and Labeouf’s explosive outbursts, on and off the court, are a needed jolt of energy. I do think an occasional light moment for Borg would have helped.
This all builds to the tournament final, where the inevitable match does indeed come to fruition. It is a thirteen minute tour de force, brilliantly combining the actors, tennis acting doubles, and actual footage. The two actors have the players tiniest mannerisms down to perfection, from Borg’s rocking back and forth and blowing on his fingers when he returns serve, to Mac’s corkscrew, neck-craning service, and toweling off routine during breaks. If you don’t know how the match played out, I won’t tell you. If you do, it doesn’t take anything away from the enjoyment.
As quiet and simmering a film as you could have with the bombast of McEnroe in it, Borg VS McEnroe is a tremendous character study, well executed. Perhaps will get your fired up for this year’s Wimbledon, or maybe make you yearn for the time when it mattered much more. It works for both.
As quiet and simmering a film as you could have with the bombast of McEnroe in it, Borg VS McEnroe is a tremendous character study, well executed. Perhaps will get your fired up for this year’s Wimbledon, or maybe make you yearn for the time when it mattered much more. It works for both.
