Fair Play
This taut erotic thriller stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich as a couple whose relationship is poisoned when one is promoted at their cutthroat investment firm.
Though it is astonishing to me, apparently in the year 2023 there are still plenty of guys who are bothered by their lady making more money or having more power/status than them. In the 15 years I’ve been married there have been times I have been the primary breadwinner and times my wife was; mostly it’s been about equal. I felt exactly the same about our relationship.
Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) certainly says and does all the right things when his girlfriend, Emily (Phoebe Dynevor), is chosen for promotion at the cutthroat Wall Street investment firm where they both work, despite the scuttlebutt suggesting he was going to get it. I’m proud of you, I support you, things won’t change between us, etc., etc.
But it turns out he’s very much not OK with it. Inevitable tensions begin to intrude, their upended working relationship spills into their home, their sex life starts to suffer, he becomes suspicious and jealous, she begins to resent him, and on and on until it’s apparent their romance is irrevocably poisoned.
That’s the premise of “Fair Play,” a very taut erotic thriller from Netflix that will have a brief theatrical run starting Sept. 29 and then move to the streaming platform the following week. It’s written and directed by Chloe Domont, a veteran of television and short films making a strong feature film debut.
Dynevor and Ehrenreich produce instant electricity on the screen — gorgeous, slinky and smart. Emily and Luke work as analysts at One Crest Capital, a high finance firm that prides itself on being in the top 1% of returns year in and out. They’ve kept their relationship a secret, despite the fact they live together and have just gotten engaged. They even take separate routes getting to and from work.
The scene where he pops the question, a frisky coupling in a public bathroom, is an early indication things will get messy and disturbing.
Crest is in the business of making the very rich even richer, and the boss, Campbell, is the Street’s high priest of mercenary indifference to everything but the bottom line. He’s played by Eddie Marsan, who has an intrinsic way of embodying moral rot.
Any time somebody at Crest fails to produce the numbers they’re accustomed to, they are summarily shown the door. All the flunkies like Luke and Emily work on an open floor where everybody overhears each other’s conversations, so when one of the top lieutenants, aka PMs, gets the axe, the word quickly gets out that Luke will receive the open office.
Instead, Campbell summons Emily out to a bar in the middle of the night and gives her the job. Not only that, but Luke will now be one of the analysts who reports to her.
He takes it well, at first. He pushes some potential deals that Emily endorses in order to make Luke look good. But Campbell makes it clear he considers Luke just another dispensable drone, just one of hundreds of guys who are good with numbers but can’t think outside the box like Emily can.
“He’s here to support you, not steer it,” Campbell admonishes.
Things grow worse at home. Luke spends his nights doing research and moping while Emily is obliged to go out and party with the other PMs. When she comes home drunk expecting some nookie, he turns her down and makes snide comments about dressing like a cupcake and maybe she got her job due to wanting a token woman. At his worst Luke worries Emily is secretly carrying on with Campbell.
Needless to say, that does not stoke the fire of her ardor.
Emily throws herself into the job and the distance between them grows to a yawning chasm. Both Emily and Luke start doing increasingly despicable things, to each other and the laws regarding stock trading.
Campbell, ever the Machiavelli, doesn’t much care what his people are up to as long as the numbers look good. We all do filthy things, he advises Emily. We all step in excrement. “But we leave it there. We don’t trek it back into the office.”
Ehrenreich gives a solid, relatable performance as a guy exuding self-confidence who, like a blooming tree suddenly robbed of water, slowly shrivels up into the worst version of himself.
But it’s Dynevor, best known heretofore for the “Bridgerton” series, who steals the show — smart, hard, vulnerable and deplorable all at once. I hope she gets a lot more attention from casting directors and even awards consideration.
Up until the last 20 minutes or so, I was thinking “Fair Play” was going to be one of the best films I’ve seen this year. But the last act fumbles the ball with an unworthy jag into sexual politics that feels cheap and easy.
What really drove the movie for me was how both Emily and Luke become morally compromised and lean into the snakebite culture of Crest Capital. They go from a sexy, exciting pairing of equals to warring factions pitting their considerable talents against each other. The ambiguity of their fight is what makes it compelling.
Without giving anything away, in the last bit Domont essentially chooses sides and goes for the rah-rah moment. What was a subtle and gripping contest of emotions skids off into populist junk. Pity.
It’s still a marvelously tense, exciting and sexy film. It’s just a sad fact that, like a lot of relationships, not all movies end in the best way.