Netflix’s most recent psychological thriller, Fair Play is a steamy, intense and deeply investing flick about how one’s career can ruin a relationship. With her first feature as director, Chloe Domont (known for writing and directing TV shows like Ballers and Shooter) gives us one of Netflix’s biggest surprises this year. It’s a dark but beautifully shot film that follows two driven investors who find themselves in the ruthless world of finance. It explores power, greed and insecurity as they can implode a relationship in an office drama that intimately looks at politics at work and sexism.
Fair Play made its debut at Sundance back in January where it was met with much acclaim – leading to its quick acquisition by streaming giant Netflix which then premiered it internationally at TIFF before eventually hitting cinemas and dropping on their platform. Don’t sleep on Fair Play, whether you catch it at the movies or from your own couch via Netflix, this is a movie mature adults should not miss.
Domont’s exceptionally written script slowly plants the seeds for a relationship explosion; likewise her exploration of office politics and sexism is enlightening yet impactful alongside such powerful wordsmithing there are some hypnotic performances from Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) & Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) which makes this one of 2023’s sexiest movies.
Emily (Dynevor), Luke (Ehrenreich) are lovers working together secretly as they’re forbidden by company policy but still passionate they have deep love for each other so much so that Luke gets down on knee proposing to Emily in bathroom romantic right? wrong… but it is passion filled however when it’s time for them to go to work they take different forms of transportation & are very formal with eachother while on the clock.
After hearing rumors about Luke possibly being considered for promotion over her Emily receives call from CEO at 2am offering her promotion above Luke reluctantly she tells him he smiles congratulates her showing his support but does so with an undertone of anger resentment disappointment so it doesn’t take long before the economic & hierarchical differences between them start greatly affecting the relationship.
Domont’s script is a fantastic piece that thrives as dark, tense psychological drama on screen her meditation of a once healthy passionate relationship imploding is absolutely compelling Emily and Luke’s relationship at the beginning of this movie is filled with lots of sex they’re crazy about each other.
However, when Emily gets that promotion, viewers can almost feel Luke slipping away from her in an instant through Domont’s subtle dialogue and camera work. Emily tries to help Luke get a promotion but he wants none of it, ignoring her and snapping at her at home. There is such a tense dynamic presented by Domont that could explode any minute; their anger and frustration with each other inches up until it culminates into one monster blowup.
The sexual dynamic between Emily and Luke is also explored by Domont — or rather its decline. At first, carnal passion burns equally bright in both Emily and Luke but as she starts moving up the corporate ladder, his impotence becomes more pronounced due to resentment towards her success. Nevertheless, this works because of how well written this moment was by Chloe Domont who used it as an opportunity for male violence metaphor.
Additionally, this movie has some very dark visuals thanks to its caliginous cinematography which creates a world full of bitter desire all around — even among financiers themselves who live in malicious worlds filled with investors’ money. Fair Play also boasts snappy editing that helps build on suspenseful narratives created by Chloe Domont resulting into one emotionally tense film after another throughout the year.
Office politics are toxic at best but nowhere near as bad as those found within investment firms where people would sooner kill off someone else’s career than see them succeed alongside with brushing shoulders against cruel elites running companies they invest in heavily. Analysts given impossible tasks blamed for managers’ failures while hating each other equally much doesn’t do justice; once again Chloe Domont’s script sheds light on these aspects more-so than even “The Wolf Of Wall Street”.
In addition to sexism being prevalent throughout workplaces portrayed here such comments like ‘Maybe I should sex change myself” ring true about grievances women face daily working environments including lower levels like Alden Ehrenreich’s character who feels resentful towards his female boss Phoebe Dynevor’s character having power over him within such a cutthroat business world. Luke couldn’t understand how she could be better suited than he for that position so jealousy reared its ugly head resulting in a display of male fragility where he took it out on her due to being unable handle truth.
Both Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor give their best performances ever seen so far when acting Fair Play. Alden delivers an outstanding performance by playing Luke who shows signs of being jealous about Emily getting promoted before him at work which eventually leads into them fighting each other physically outside office premises; while on another hand Pharrell Williams performs brilliantly well as himself during scene where he sings ‘Happy Birthday’ song dedicated towards celebrating success achieved by one person despite facing hardships along way like what happens with this investment banking movie.
Ehrenreich provides an immaculate performance which is multi-faceted at its core; the character he portrays has depth and explores every nook and cranny of jealousy’s madness, resulting in numerous meltdowns of different intensities. He is both pitiful and loathsome at once, attractive as well as repulsive-looking. With this script written by Domont that compliments perfectly with what Ehrenreich does on screen — it could be said that there are many days’ worths of chemistry or psychological tension between characters in this movie alone because how subtly crafted some parts were by Domont himself while also considering delivery from actors like Ehrenriech who brings them alive even more so.
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