Incendiary ‘Fair Play’ Tackles Sexual Dynamics of A Wall Street Relationship [Review]

I was hesitant going into Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play,” but this film is a scorching fireball of gender politics, in the best of ways. It’s one the best movies I saw at this last January’s Sundance Film Festival. A final trailer popped online this afternoon.

It’s not that surprising that Netflix bought “Fair Play” for an astounding $20 million. Is it worth that much money? I’m not sure. However, this is the kind of film that will have people talking, and a small theatrical release, this coming Friday, will likely turn It into a major conversation starter.

Domont, making her feature directing debut after directing episodes of “Billions”, “Suits”, and “Baller,” has a made a ballsy debut. It’s a sleazily entertaining portrait of entitlement.

“Fair Play” stars Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor as a Wall Street power couple who can’t get enough of each other, until a coveted promotion twists the gender powers around in their relationship. What does masculinity mean exactly in a relationship if the woman makes more than the man?

This film is all about the dialogue between the lovers, as their relationship begin to sour into sinister dynamics. The cutthroat Wall Street world is portrayed by Domont in savage ways.

It doesn’t help that their boss, played by an understated Eddie Marsan, keeps upping the pressures and switching favorites at the quick of a switch.

Domont hides her cards until a provocative finale pulls the rug up from under the audience. Nearly every line has hidden, not to mention sinister, meaning here. You’re watching the crumbling of love and the emergence of ruthless opportunism.

Dynevor delivers a strong performance as the ambitious Emily, and if it takes time to warm up to Ehrenreich’s presence, he manages to find a searing vulnerability in his work here that might forgive his career-deadening work as Han Solo from just a few years ago.

Domont has made a film reminiscent of a ‘90s psychological thriller, unflinchingly pitting partners against each other in a world that is constantly changing the conformist gender roles of the last century.