Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale (2005)
The opening of Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale is a tennis rally, both figuratively and literally, between soon-to-be-divorced couple Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan (Laura Linney). The mixed-doubles match with their two sons divides the family, foreshadowing the reality of their fractured dynamics. Baumbach uses the tennis framework to capture alliances and betrayals, such as when Bernard advises his older son, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg): “If you can, try and hit it at your mother’s backhand, it’s pretty weak.”