Romeo Beckham Plays a Menacing Tennis Rival in His First Film Role, and the Forty Love Trailer Is All Threats

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Still from the film Forty Love featuring scenes from the gay tennis romance drama

The trailer for Forty Love keeps slipping the menace in between the love lines. Romeo Beckham, in his acting debut and his first role in a French film, delivers the threats: “Sleep with your eyes open,” and “I’m coming for you.”

A still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the French gay tennis thriller starring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.

He calls his rival boring, then lands the one everyone is quoting, “It’s not my fault if you’re fucking in love with me,” right after “I don’t want to sound like I want to be his boyfriend.”

Still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the French tennis drama featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.

Studiocanal dropped the first trailer on October 15, billing Paul Kircher, Guillaume Canet, Romeo Beckham, Benjamin Voisin and Catherine Deneuve. AlloCiné calls it a gay romance set in the tennis world, and files it as drama, romance and thriller, that last genre the reason the sweetness never sits still.

A still from the film Forty Love, a gay tennis romance thriller from Studiocanal France.
A still from Forty Love, the French drama-thriller starring Paul Kircher and Romeo Beckham. Credit: Studiocanal France.

Kircher plays Sacha Gallo, a 21-year-old coached by his father toward a first Paris title, who finds love arriving as his unexpected rival. The two men circle each other as enemies first, and the trailer leaves open who is hunting whom.

A still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A still from Forty Love, the French tennis drama-thriller featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. (Studiocanal France)

Beckham is the second son of David and Victoria Beckham, a model and former footballer who at 13 hit with Andy Murray at Queen’s Club in 2016. Kircher, the son of actors Irène Jacob and Jérôme Kircher, won the 2022 San Sebastián Silver Shell for his breakthrough in “Winter Boy.”

Still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the upcoming gay tennis romance thriller starring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.

Fashion photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti directs his first feature, shot around Cannes, Monte-Carlo and Paris. The title plays on the tennis score: forty-love means 40-0, one player a single point from taking the game.

A still from the film Forty Love featuring actors on a tennis court
A still from Forty Love, the gay tennis drama and thriller starring Paul Kircher and Romeo Beckham. Credit: Studiocanal France.

Forty Love opens in French cinemas on November 25, following a Paris world premiere on November 17. No UK or US date has been announced.

A still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the French gay tennis thriller starring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.
Still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the French tennis drama featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.
A still from the film Forty Love, a gay tennis romance thriller from Studiocanal France.
A still from Forty Love, the French drama-thriller starring Paul Kircher and Romeo Beckham. Credit: Studiocanal France.
A still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A still from Forty Love, the French tennis drama-thriller featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. (Studiocanal France)
Still from the film Forty Love featuring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher
A scene from Forty Love, the upcoming gay tennis romance thriller starring Romeo Beckham and Paul Kircher. Credit: Studiocanal France.
A still from the film Forty Love featuring actors on a tennis court
A still from Forty Love, the gay tennis drama and thriller starring Paul Kircher and Romeo Beckham. Credit: Studiocanal France.
Two people leaning in to kiss in close-up; one has neck tattoos and a chain necklace, the other has a lip ring.
A close-up kiss between two characters frames the film’s central romance — one with neck tattoos and a chain, the other with a lip ring — in a dramatically lit scene from Forty Love. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Woman with dark hair pulling a sheer white fabric over her face while leaning against a concrete wall, arm raised.
A dark-haired woman pulls a sheer white fabric over her face against a concrete wall in a moody, water-slicked scene from Forty Love. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Young man's face lit in deep red, eyes closed, with a hand touching his cheek and a chain necklace visible at his throat.
Bathed entirely in crimson light, a young man with a chain necklace tilts his face into an unseen hand in an intensely atmospheric shot from the film. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Young man in a black hoodie and black baseball cap looking slightly off-camera, stud earrings visible, against a soft blue background.
Wearing a black hoodie and cap, a young man gazes just off-camera in a cool-toned close-up that captures the film’s quieter, more contemplative register. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Close-up of a man with neck tattoos including a rose design leaning toward a dark-haired woman, both in profile.
Neck tattoos — including a rose and script lettering — fill the frame as a man leans close to a woman with dark curly hair in an intimate two-shot. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Man's face partially lit in blue against a black background, mouth open, with French subtitle "et ils ont raison" at bottom of frame.
Lit by a single slash of blue against a black void, a man sings or speaks with the French subtitle “et ils ont raison” — “and they are right” — running across the bottom of the frame. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Extreme close-up of a young man's face, sweating, with a focused and intense expression, wearing a small hoop earring and a chain necklace.
A sweat-glazed close-up captures the intense, steely gaze of one of the film’s leads in a still from Forty Love. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Close-up of a tattooed hand with a gold bracelet clutching a red tennis racket, next to navy Mizuno athletic shorts, on a clay court.
A tattooed hand grips a red tennis racket courtside, Mizuno shorts visible in the frame, in a detail shot from Forty Love. Credit: Forty Love / Studiocanal France.
Romeo Beckham Plays a Menacing Tennis Rival in His First Film Role, and the Forty Love Trailer Is All Threats
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January Nelson is a writer, editor, and dreamer. She writes about astrology, games, love, relationships, and entertainment. Her favorite horror movies tend to be more on the artsy side.