Jason Kohn’s documentary “Love Means Zero” is a film about tennis, but at it is also a kind of match in itself, in which the filmmaker serves and volleys and probes for weaknesses in the implacable foe on the other side of the net.
That foe, in a way, is also the subject of “Love Means Zero”: Nick Bollettieri, the controversial tennis instructor whose Florida academy taught such luminaries as Jim Courier, Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles, Mary Pierce and most of all Andre Agassi, whose relationship with Bollettieri began when he was barely in his teens, reached heights of glory and ended in acrimony in 1993.
The Bollettieri-Agassi relationship dominates “Love Means Zero,” which premiered on Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival before heading to Showtime. The film touches on Bollettieri’s other students, notably Courier, Kathleen Horvath and Carling Bassett; it barely mentions Seles, Pierce and Sharpova, despite their success; and it returns, again and again, to the surrogate father-son relationship that the instructor had with his prize pupil Agassi.
But while Courier, Boris Becker and others talk about the Bollettieri-Agassi bond in “Love Means Zero,” Agassi himself is conspicuously absent. Almost 25 years after Agassi lost at Wimbledon and Bollettieri subsequently ended their relationship by letter (after giving an interview to USA Today), Agassi declined to participate in the documentary.
That leaves an enormous hole at the heart of the film, though Kohn does his best to make this a movie that doesn’t need the absent Agassi. He does this by talking to others around Bollettieri, particularly his fellow coaches at the academy, and by structuring the film around a series of conversations between the director and his subject.
Not for nothing does this movie begin with the credit “Starring Nick Bollettieri.” Kohn tries hard to talk Bollettieri out of using his “performance voice,” but never really succeeds – so the film becomes a match, in which Kohn tries to get at his subject and a self-aware, protective and theatrical Bollettieri volleys everything back with frustrating equanimity or an even more frustrating insistence that he doesn’t remember.
Perched in a chair in front of the courts of what used to be his academy, the sun-baked 86-year-old coach holds court like an old, wrinkled orangutan, shooting down Kohn’s attempts at psychoanalysis and blocking every uncomfortable query:
“I don’t remember.”
“Why? I don’t know. That’s Nick.”
“If I hurt you, maybe I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
Like his prize student, Agassi, Bollettieri is a master of the return – but in this instance his returns don’t lead to Grand Slam championships, they just make it harder for Kohn to create an insightful portrait of his subject.
Still, the director persists gamely; Bollettieri is never less than fascinating, and as the film goes on he seems to lose a few of his defenses and drop the self-justifying bluster just enough to give us glimmers of doubt and regret.
It is only at the end, when Kohn asks Bollettieri to read aloud a letter that Agassi wrote him (it’s from a book, so it’s hardly private correspondence), that the facade cracks, and Bollettieri’s voice breaks as he reads lines like, “On that level, I love you.”
In one of the final scenes, he writes back to Agassi, “It’s important to me that before my life ends, I say to you I’m truly sorry.”
The final credits to “Love Means Zero” point out that Andre has yet to respond.
117 Amazing Portraits From TheWrap's Toronto Studio, From Angelina Jolie to Jim Carrey (Photos)
Actors Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney and director Craig Gillespie, "I, Tonya"
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Actress-producer Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
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Margot Robbie, "I, Tonya"
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Actress Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"
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Sebastian Stan, "I, Tonya"
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Helen Mirren, "The Leisure Seeker"
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Helen Mirren, "The Leisure Seeker"
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"Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond" Jim Carrey
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Jim Carrey, "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond"
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Director Chris Smith, "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond"
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Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, "The Current War"
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Michael Shannon, "The Current War"
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Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon with actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon and Nicholas Hoult, "The Current War"
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Director Angelina Jolie, "First They Killed My Father"
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Director Angelina Jolie with producer Rithy Panh, stars Kimhak Mun, Sareum Srey Moch and co-writer Luong Ung, "First They Killed My Father"
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Writer-director Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
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Greta Gerwig, "Lady Bird"
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Actress Laurie Metcalf, "Lady Bird"
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Actor Tracy Letts, "Lady Bird"
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Brie Larson, "Unicorn Store"
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Actor Sam Rockwell, "Woman Walks Ahead"
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Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci, "The Children Act"
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Writer Ian McEwan, actor Stanley Tucci, director Richard Eyre and actors Emma Thompson and Duncan Kenworthy, "The Children Act"
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Stanley Tucci, "The Children Act"
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"Outside In" director Lynn Shelton with her cast Jay Duplass, Kaitlyn Dever and Edie Falco
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Jay Duplass, "Outside In"
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Edie Falco, "Outside In"
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Kaitlyn Dever, "Outside In"
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Director Lynn Shelton, "Outside In"
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Jake Gyllenhaal, "Stronger"
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Tatiana Maslany, "Stronger"
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Miranda Richardson, "Stronger"
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"Stronger" star Jake Gyllenhaal with Jeff Bauman, the Boston Marathon bombing survivor he plays in the fiilm
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Writer Jeff Bauman, "Stronger"
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Actor Cedric the Entertainer, "First Reformed"
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Cedric the Entertainer, "First Reformed"
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Cedric the Entertainer and director Paul Schrader "First Reformed"
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Director Paul Schrader, "First Reformed"
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Actors Aaron Pederson, Abbey Lee, Matt Nable, Simone Kessell, Josh McConville and Ryan Corr, "1%"
Abbey Lee, "1%"
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Actress Simone Kessel, "1%"
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Actor Ed Harris, "Kodachrome"
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Actor Ed Harris and director Mark Raso, "Kodachrome"
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Mark Raso, "Kodachrome"
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Writer-producer Jeremy Chilnick, writer-director-producer Morgan Spurlock and producer Matthew Galkin, "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken"
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Producer Matthew Galkin, "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken"
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Writer-producer Jeremy Chilnick, "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken"
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Writer-director-producer-star Morgan Spurlock, "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken"
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Morgan Spurlock, "Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken"
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Director Joseph Kahn, "Bodied"
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Actress Rory Uphold, "Bodied"
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Actor Calum Worthy, "Bodied"
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Director Armando Iannucci, "The Death of Stalin"
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Director Darren Aronofsky, "mother!"
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Director Darren Aronofsky, "mother!"
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Willem Dafoe, Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince and Sean Baker, "The Florida Project"
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Willem Dafoe, "The Florida Project"
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Director-star James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
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Director-star James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
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Actor Dave Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
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Actor Dave Franco, "The Disaster Artist"
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Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber, "The Disaster Artist"
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Alison Brie, "The Disaster Artist"
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Alison Brie, "The Disaster Artist"
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Ari Graynor, "The Disaster Artist"
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Actress Jessica Chastain, "Molly's Game" and "Woman Walks Ahead"
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Actress Jessica Chastain, director Susanna White and Michael Greyeyes, "Woman Walks Ahead"
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Actress Julianne Nicholson, "Who We Are Now"
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Zachary Quinto, "Who We Are Now"
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Actor Josh Lucas, "Mark Felt"
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Selma Blair, "Mom and Dad"
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Selma Blair and Nicolas Cage, "Mom and Dad"
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Co-directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, "One of Us"
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Director Kyle Rideout, "Public Schooled"
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Judy Greer "Public Schooled"
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Actor Eddie Izzard, "Victoria & Abdul"
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Actor Ali Fazal, "Victoria & Abdul"
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Actress Elisabeth Moss, "The Square"
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Actor Terry Notary, "The Square"
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Director Ruben Ostland, "The Square"
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Actor Claes Bang, "The Square"
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Screenwriter Anthony McCarten, "Darkest Hour"
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Writer Anthony McCarten, stars Ben Mendelsohn, Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas with director Joe Wright, "Darkest Hour"
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Actor Ben Mendelsohn, "Darkest Hour"
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Actor Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
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Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"
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Actress Kristin Scott Thomas, "Darkest Hour"
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Director Joe Wright, "Darkest Hour"
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Actor Nahuel Peres Biscayar, "BPM (Beats Per Minute)"
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Actor Arnaud Valois, "BPM (Beats Per Minute)"
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Director John Curran with actors Jim Gaffigan, Ed Helms and Kate Mara, writers Andrew Logan and Taylor Allen, "Chappaquiddick"
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"Chappaquiddick" director John Curran
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Kate Mara, "Chappaquiddick"
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Kate Mara, "Chappaquiddick"
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Jim Gaffigan, "Chappaquiddick"
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Ed Helms, "Chappaquiddick"
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Director Dan Gilroy, "Roman J. Israel, Esq."
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Actress Diane Kruger, "In the Fade"
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Actress Diane Kruger, "In the Fade"
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Director Alexander Payne, "Downsizing"
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Actors Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau and director Alexander Payne, "Downsizing"
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Actor Christoph Waltz, "Downsizing"
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Actress Hong Chau, "Downsizing"
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Actors Wes Studi, Rosamund Pike, direcor Scott Cooper, Christian Bale and Jonathan Majors, "Hostiles"
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Actor Simon Baker, "Breath"
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Simon Baker, "Breath"
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Director Neil Burger, "The Upside"
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Writer-director Martin McDonagh, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
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Director and co-writer Dee Rees, "Mudbound"
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Actor Jason Mitchell, "Mudbound"
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Rob Morgan, "Mudbound"
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Jason Mitchell and Rob Morgan, "Mudbound"
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Actors Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, director Dee Rees, actors Rob Morgan and Carey Mulligan, "Mudbound"
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Garrett Hedlund, "Mudbound"
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Writer-director Robin Campillo, "BPM (Beats Per Minute)"
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Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, "Battle of the Sexes"
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Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, "Battle of the Sexes"
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Brady Jandreau, "The Rider"
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TIFF 2017: Jake Gyllenhaal, Helen Mirren, Benedict Cumberbatch and more sit down to talk about their latest projects
Actors Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney and director Craig Gillespie, "I, Tonya"
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