Battle of the Sexes
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Talent: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough
Released 24 November
It’s 1973 and Billie Jean King (Stone) is definitively the best woman at playing tennis. She had just won $100,000 in prize money, though overall women’s prize money was dwarfed by men’s. Billie Jean and eight other female players challenged this, and other gender based inequalities by setting up their own tournament which toured America.
Bobby Riggs (Carell), a self-styled chauvinist pig and gambling addict wants to take on Billie Jean in an exhibition match, partly to sate his need for attention, partly for financial gain, but mostly to put women in their place. With Billie Jean accepting the challenge, the game is dubbed ‘The Battle of the Sexes’. Through the story of the tennis match we are privy to the struggle to progress women’s liberation and Billie Jean’ grappling with her sexual identity. A balance is carefully struck between the stories of Billie Jean and Bobby (including the people in their lives), the tennis occasion, and the broader issues of the society they live in.
Visually, parts of the film are like flicking through an album of 1970s photography; slightly blurred and colour saturated, with strong reds and blues. Carell’s performance adds humour but does not take away from a genuinely moving and suspense filled story. Though, disappointingly, the dialogue at times descends into corny territory and stereotypes are played up.
Words: Sarah Taaffe-Maguire
