LOS ANGELES
StudioCanal released the first trailer for Forty Love this week — dated Friday, October 16 in Indy100's report on the drop — and the French tennis romance arrived with a debut the British press was always going to notice. Romeo Beckham, 24, makes his acting debut in the film, playing the rival who walks into the carefully ordered life of a young French tennis star and turns it upside down. Just Jared published the trailer with its first report on the footage on October 15, and Indy100 followed with its own breakdown as the trailer spread online Friday. Within hours, the comparisons wrote themselves.
The film's center is not Beckham, though. Paul Kircher plays Sacha Gallo, a 21-year-old who, in the official synopsis carried by Just Jared and Indy100, knows how to do only one thing: play tennis. Sacha has been coached by his father his entire life, and father and son share a single dream — a first major title in Paris. Everything in Sacha's world is arranged around that goal, until a new rival arrives. The synopsis frames what follows plainly: Sacha must confront love, an unexpected opponent as powerful as it is formidable. Beckham plays that rival, and the trailer makes clear the rivalry does not stay on the court.
A trailer built on tension, on and off the court
The footage, as described by Just Jared, Indy100 and ComingSoon, leans into the push and pull between the two players. Beckham's character taunts Sacha in training and in press settings, warns him to sleep with his eyes open, and tells him, in the trailer's most quoted exchange, that it is not his fault if Sacha is in love with him. Other moments show the pair kissing and in bed together, and several reports — including ComicBasics and Attitude's coverage summarized there — noted a darker turn in the footage, with imagery suggesting the romance carries a thriller edge alongside the romance. ComingSoon reported the French release is set for November 25, 2026, with no international release date announced yet.
One moment in the trailer was engineered — knowingly or not — for tennis fans to catch. At a press conference in the footage, Beckham's character is asked what he admires about his rival, and answers with a line riffing on not wanting to sound like he wants to be his boyfriend. Just Jared traced the reference: Rafael Nadal made a similar, laughing comment at a press conference at the 2017 US Open, when asked what he admired most about his own great rival, Roger Federer. It is a small, affectionate piece of tennis history folded into a fictional rivalry, and it tells you who the film hopes is watching.
Beckham's path to a first role, and an unusual language setup
Beckham is the second-eldest son of David and Victoria Beckham. Before acting, he pursued professional football and tennis as a young athlete, then built a modeling career with houses including Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Burberry, and left competitive sport in 2024 to focus on fashion, according to ComicBasics' report on the trailer. Forty Love is his first credited feature-film role — a debut that arrives with a famous surname attached and, if the trailer's early online response is any measure, an audience that showed up curious on day one.
The production has one more quirk that French audiences will notice immediately. Beckham does not speak French, Indy100 reported, and his dialogue — performed in English — is subtitled for French viewers, while Kircher's character speaks French. Rather than hiding the gap, the film builds it into the rivalry: the newcomer literally speaks a different language from the world he is disrupting. It is the kind of detail that could have been a limitation and instead reads, in the trailer at least, as characterization.
The cast around the debut, and the photographer directing it
Beckham and Kircher are surrounded by established French cinema names. The cast includes Guillaume Canet and Benjamin Voisin, and Catherine Deneuve — among the most celebrated French actors of all time — plays Sacha's mother, according to the cast lists published by Just Jared and Indy100. Kircher himself, Indy100 noted, is the son of French actors Irene Jacob and Jerome Kircher, and comes to the role with acclaimed work including The Animal Kingdom behind him. Behind the camera, the film is directed by Pierre-Ange Carlotti, a fashion photographer making his feature directorial debut, ComingSoon reported — a fitting background for a film whose trailer sells style, surfaces and desire as much as sport. ComingSoon also reported music by 070 Shake and Johan Lenox.
The film was shot in the south of France, including around Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, as well as in Paris and the surrounding region, according to ComicBasics. That geography matters to the premise: Sacha's dream is specifically a Paris title, and the film keeps its story inside the French tennis world rather than treating the setting as decoration.
Why the Challengers and Heated Rivalry comparisons arrived instantly
Indy100 reported that viewers online were quick to compare the trailer to Challengers, the 2024 tennis love-triangle hit, and to Heated Rivalry, the hockey romance whose screen success helped define the current wave of queer sports romance. The comparisons are understandable — a tennis rivalry charged with attraction sits squarely in the territory those titles opened up — but Forty Love's own materials suggest a different emphasis: a father-son story about a single-minded young athlete, a mother played by Deneuve, and a darker turn the trailers only hint at. Whether it plays as romance, thriller or both is the question the November 25 French opening will answer first.
For now, the trailer has done its job. It introduced a famous debut, a rising French star, and a premise built for conversation — see what else is arriving this season in our weekend viewing guide, browse upcoming releases in Previously's browse section, and read the day's other big trailer-and-premiere news in our Masterplan report and our Mummy 4 report. Forty Love opens in French cinemas November 25. International dates have not been announced — and given the noise this trailer made in a single day, they likely will not stay unannounced for long.