Emily (Pheobe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) have it all. The young power couple are recently engaged and both rising stars within a successful Wall Street hedge fund. In a possibly unwise move, the relationship is kept secret in the workplace. The situation is made more emotionally complex when Emily is promoted to a high-power role, a position they were both convinced was earmarked for Luke.
What follows is a tour of various displays of subtle and not-so-subtle toxic masculinity as Emily finds her way through a male-dominated cut-throat workplace. Meanwhile at home, Luke seems happy for Emily and is fully supportive, but his concealed jealousy and resentment eventually seeps through, first in their sex life and then in his behaviour. What starts out as passive-aggressive before becoming full-on aggressive.
As you might imagine a film that's being labelled as a "Wall Street for the #MeToo era", Fair Play has a lot to say, and the semi-autobiographical nature of the script (by director, Chloe Dumont) is evident with plenty of post-screening discussion points. Unfortunately, it falls flat in the third act as the resentment and violence boils over in a strangely accelerated and disappointing way. It could be argued that the story would be better served as a mini-series to allow the excellent cast and their audience to really examine these themes over a longer running time.
Now streaming on Netflix
