“Fair Play” tests a couple in the power imbalance between love and career and leaves us with a shocking ending. Director and writer Chloe Domont explains what she particularly wanted to tell with the erotic thriller.
Since its highly acclaimed premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “Fair Play” has been one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year – not least because Netflix subsequently put an incredible sum of 20 million dollars on the table to acquire the distribution rights, leaving a whole host of other bidders behind. Since 5 October, the film starring “Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich (“Solo: A Star Wars Story”) has finally been available for free on the streaming service for subscribers – and is now also causing a lot of discussion in Germany.
No wonder, because in “Fair Play” director and screenwriter Chloe Domont focuses on a young and successful couple who can’t keep their hands off each other at first – and eventually raise their hands against each other. What turn the romance is to take is continuously established through small hints and foreshadowings until the circle closes completely at the end, leaving a catastrophe in its wake.
So we first meet Emily and Luke as passionate lovers, falling over each other in the bathroom at a wedding reception. Their excitement, however, gets a bit of a damper when they realise that Emily is on her period – and is in turn replaced by wild joy when Luke proposes to his girlfriend. Here Domont tries to get us on their side, as a proposal amid blood paints the couple as chaotic as they are charming and endearing. But what begins in blood shall end in blood.
IN “FAIR PLAY” LOVE BECOMES A STRUGGLE FOR POWER
Because Emily and Luke work in the same financial firm, a very male-dominated environment with an obnoxious boss at the top. Not wanting to talk, they keep their still fresh relationship a secret, which will later be their undoing. When a promotion comes up, the two suddenly find themselves competing for the same position and Luke is sure he is ahead in the race. Surprisingly, however, Emily is given the post and self-doubt is raised in Luke, as is talk from his colleagues about how much Emily’s promotion would really have to do with her ability – or much more with the fact that she is a woman. But Emily learns instead that Luke is one of the company’s weakest employees, which in turn he can’t handle.
Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich in
Shrewd remarks are followed by physical outbursts until Luke bursts into an important meeting of Emily’s and accuses her of sexual harassment as his superior in front of the entire team. At their engagement party that same evening, an escalating argument ensues that begins with words and ends with a rape in the bathroom. Now Emily herself turns to her workplace with a lie and tells her boss that Luke has been stalking her for months. But what the boss cares about more than holding someone accountable is the company’s reputation, so he treats Emily indifferently.
OF TOXIC MASCULINITY AND FEMALE EMPOWERMENT
Emily realises, however, that she must hold Luke accountable – especially when he stands before her in the grand finale and continues to brazenly deny each of her accusations. She grabs a knife and cuts her fiancé’s arm until he drops to his knees and begs her for forgiveness. Blood drips onto the floor, the circle is complete and for director Chloe Domont, this is the point where the film shows its true intention, as she explains in an interview with Netflix:
“While there are elements of female rage here, this final scene is not about female rage, it’s about holding a man accountable for his actions and facing his own inferiority. Luke’s inability to stand by this causes them both so much pain and destruction. For me, the entire film boils down to that moment when Emily makes Luke acknowledge his own failure and weakness by muttering the words ‘I am nothing’ – because even more than being about female self-empowerment, the film is about male fragility. “
