Fair Play
Netflix recently released their high finance romantic thriller, “Fair Play“. With this in mind, it is clear that director Chloe Domont took an interesting approach to the film. Instead of focusing on the relationship between two hedge fund analysts themselves (played brilliantly by Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor), she chose to highlight their downfall through writer/director’s impregnable vision.
Emily is first introduced as an analyst at a cutthroat New York financial firm who stands outside smoking a cigarette while everyone else parties inside without her. That is until Luke shows up her co-worker and secret live-in lover and brings her into the party which happens to be his brother’s wedding where his uncle calls her the “prettiest girl in the room” before running off before Luke can tell him she’s much more than that. It’s clear Emily doesn’t belong here but has amazing chemistry with Luke nonetheless; they have sex in a bathroom stall with her menstrual blood getting all over their clothes; he drops a ring on the ground from his pocket and proposes on the spot; they have passionate sex again when they get home, it’s 4:30 am when they wake up on their apartment floor etc., so you see where this is going.
The next day after portfolio manager quits down stairs during one hell of a temper tantrum resulting in calling security because he thought someone stole his laptop or something equally stupid like that Em & Luke both want to take over for him but it ends up going to neither of them which starts setting off alarm bells since their carefully calculated careers are already starting to go off track now that they’re engaged against company policy blah blah blah.
They can both technically do the job and have the same dedication to it, but her intuition combined with how hard she works makes her a better employee. Still, Luke holds onto a feeling that this is his job and this is his life because he’s wanted it so bad for so long. Em knows that kind of entitlement is for people who’ve never had to work for anything.
In addition to being an incisive look at office politics and sexism, Domont also explores their sexual relationship. At first, they’re equally passionate; they’re in each other’s bodies, with Luke going down on Em. But as she starts climbing up the ladder at work, his bitterness twists into impotence, then withholding sex as power play, and finally force. The metaphor can be clumsy at times but it works: male violence is weakness.
Ehrenreich nails Luke’s arc from supportive partner to deranged enemy, but this movie belongs to Dynevor. Her power comes in what she doesn’t reveal in public only letting Luke see the looser her and when the stress reaches its peak between work and home life, she must charm all of them without letting any know she’s doing it.
For most of the film, Dynevor keeps her body rigid (towering in sleek, painful-looking heels), allowing emotion only in quick flashes of anger or joy or stress across her face. That control over her expressions gets harder as Luke starts acting weirder, still projecting one version of herself while playing another underneath shows on her through just a deep breath here, a hidden look of sorrow there or a slight tremble in response to something a coworker says.
Em eventually erupts into a fiery speech and scene that takes heavily from George Cukor’s “Gaslight,” starring Ingrid Bergman. People who love that film which has spawned many misinterpretations will appreciate how steadily Domont understands the phrase is rooted not just in a generic manipulation of someone’s reality but a couple’s power dynamics and their private and public perceptions. Domont’s homage in dialogue as well as blocking is much more earned than most modern uses of the term (which, interestingly, is never uttered in “Fair Play”).
Domont’s script sometimes skews too theatrical, with grand monologues and rigid back and forths that aren’t helped by the film’s limited settings or repetitive structure. But her thrilling control of slow burn tension, sharp eye for how power moves through business and personal relationships, and creation of standout performances prove her to be a director with a voice.
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