Originally released in 1982, courtside documentary The French, about the tennis championships of the 1981 French Open, is a fascinating social and archival document that is being presented anew by filmmaker, francophile, and tennis aficionado Wes Anderson. The American-born/French photographer and filmmaker William Klein received a commission from the French Tennis Federation to film behind the scenes at the 85th edition of the French Open held at the Roland-Garros clay courts. Such access had never been granted before or since, which further makes Klein’s film a rare glimpse into the personalities and procedures involved in the competition.
And there were personalities aplenty in 1981, a time when the open era of the tennis Grand Slams was still in its early years and the sport’s popularity was booming. Björn Borg was the reigning champion of Roland-Garros, and his long hair and signature headband was, in fact, the poster image for the 1981 games. Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert (then known as Evert-Lloyd), Ivan Lendl, Ilie Năstase, and Martina Navratilova, are all in attendance and we get to observe these and other players on and off the court. Klein’s camera catches them in the players’ lounges and locker rooms (occasionally in bras and jockstraps), as well as their on-court volleys and antics. McEnroe’s tactic of bullying the umpires is in full view, as are Năstase’s playfulness, Lendl’s physical shyness, and Arthur Ashe in the stands watching his protégé Yannick Noah.
The filmmaker’s interest is in the entire gestalt of the event, rather than a sole focus on the competition. We get to see the crush of the fans and the paparazzi, the after-play rubdowns and the ironing of crisp tennis skirts, the view from the broadcast booth, the spectators in the stands, and the rain – the constant on-and-off rain that plagued that year’s games.
As in his earlier documentary Muhammad Ali, The Greatest, Klein’s interest is not only in the sports figures and their physical prowess but the social ramifications of their efforts and the world surrounding them. Although The French unfolds in chronological order, Klein’s overview is unbound and always on the outlook for the telling aside. Divided into 14 sections, Klein’s storytelling is loose and perambulating. The climax involves the finals match between Borg and Lendl, and it turns out to have been the last French Open Borg would win, as Klein’s closing stills seem to foretell. Unsurprisingly for 1981, the men’s matches are given much greater attention than the women’s. However, all the images still hold up fantastically 40 years later in the gleam of Fujifilm’s brightly colored film stock.
Tennis fans are sure to glean more from The French than the casual observer. Yet Klein’s attention to the inner workings of the games make this film seem rather akin to Frederick Wiseman’s fly-on-the-wall observations of public institutions. What you’ll find in The French is valuable social history rather than a sportscasting document.
This article appears in June 17 • 2022.
