Fair Play – A Strong Psychological Drama

Fair Play had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival before being purchased by Netflix for $20 million in a bidding war with several other studios. Fair Play follows newly engaged couple Emily (Dynevor) and Luke (Ehrenreich) who work at the same cutthroat hedge fund firm and keep their relationship a secret from their employers and co-workers. When Emily is promoted over Luke, it pushes the couple’s relationship to the brink, and threatens to unravel far more than their recent engagement. The film is a sharply written, confidently directed, and brilliantly performed feature debut for director Chloe Dumont, which marks her as quite the talent to watch for.

The marketing for Fair Play is a little misleading as it paints the film more like an erotic thriller reminiscent of the mid to late 90’s when in reality, it is closer to a deep psychological drama about a successful couple’s relationship falling apart with very little of it being all that erotic or thrilling. That being said, it’s still enthralling to watch and builds tension well as its pieces slowly come together and set the stage for what is to come, even though the film itself is not what one would classify as a typical thriller. Exploring gender dynamics in the workplace in a fascinating and thought provoking way, the film could not have released at a timelier moment.

While the film works for the most part, the excellent lead performances from Dynevor and Ehrenreich go a long way in making that happen. Dynevor’s first major film role, it will likely be the first time audiences will be exposed to her, but she absolute crushes it as she sells Emily’s evolving journey. Although, Emily doesn’t always do the right thing and can come off a bit unlikeable at times (which was certainly not unique to her and the world where she operated), one can’t help but root for her and hope she makes it out of the film. Meanwhile, Ehrenreich has seen a career resurgence this year, however, his performance here might be the best of his career. He plays this insecure, cocky, and easily threatened Luke so well to the point where it’s easy to forget how charming and likable he typically is. The fight scenes that saw Emily and Luke going toe-to-toe with one another are among the best in the film and their chemistry together is off the charts through the arc of their relationship.

Where Fair Play falls apart is the third act’s inability to stick the landing. Starting to go off the rails, it almost becomes a different film entirely. While still very much watchable, it loses a lot of what made the first two acts so impressive and nearly turns into the trashy thriller it avoided being without fully going there thanks to Chloe Domont. Even though the third act is the weakest part of the film, its final scene makes up for it and ends things on a strong albeit somewhat abrupt note.

In the end, Fair Play might go a little off the rails in the third act, but is still a rock solid debut and marks Chloe Dumont as a director to watch for. Though far more a psychological drama than the erotic thriller some may have expected, it’s all the better and more memorable because of it. Audiences should keep their eyes on this one when it drops on Netflix next week, it’s just nice to see films like this still get made and released on a platform for a large audience to see.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/