Fair Play Review: Story That Tells What It Means To Be A Woman In The World Of Work Today
Cast: Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich
Director: Chloe Domont
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Fair Play is the new Netflix original drama/thriller film written and directed by Chloe Domont, who debuts with her new film, after having already directed short films and some episodes of TV series, such as Bilions, Suits, and Ballers. We will find as protagonists Phoebe Dynevor, also known for playing the role of Daphne in the Netflix TV series Bridgerton, and Alden Ehrenreich in Oppenheimer, Cocaine Bear, and Solo: A Star Wars Story. We will see how a love story can turn into a real hell, love vs ambition. Who will have won? The new film will be available for streaming on Netflix from October 6th. What is life like as a young, beautiful, extremely bright woman who finds herself working in the super-competitive (and “super-masculine”) world of finance? It is not an easy road at all, dotted with small (and large) abuses and the obligation to put aside one’s femininity to resemble the sharks that dominate the environment.
Chloe Demont’s film, presented at the Sundance Film Festival, is a successful erotic thriller, which explores what it means to be a woman in a context of that type, taking situations to the extreme that are unfortunately similar to many other work environments. As we will see in this review of Fair Play, Demont starts from a couple’s relationship, exploring its dynamics and upsetting power relations: in this way, he speaks to us with unnerving clarity about the female experience today. How does your boyfriend feel if you’re suddenly the one making a career out of it? What if you’re the one who earns a lot more than him? The protagonist – played by a splendid Phoebe Dynevor – will be forced to deal with a harsh reality: love, even the seemingly strongest one, sometimes lasts only until one’s partner’s ego is diminished.
Fair Play Review: The Story Plot
Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are two young and ambitious financial analysts, both working at the same company and every day they fight tooth and nail to be noticed by their superiors. What no one at work knows, however, is that the two have fallen in love, and live together: their relationship must remain secret because they would both risk losing their jobs. Even their sudden engagement must remain hidden, and Emily is forced, every morning, to take off the ring and leave it at home. Emily and Luke, however, are not discouraged by the difficulties of everyday life: they are young, in love, and burn with passion both for each other and for their work. That is, at least, until Emily receives a highly coveted promotion, and within a few hours finds herself as her boyfriend’s direct superior. As if that wasn’t enough, Luke had convinced himself that he was the recipient of this promotion.
What will be the direct consequences of this unexpected change of position on the couple? The more Emily progresses, the more Luke will feel crushed by her success, and from brilliant and self-confident he will transform into a resentful and constantly embittered man. The parables of the two will take opposite directions: ascending for her and descending and self-destructive for him. Too bad that in his impulsive resentment, Luke could pull Emily with him, and ruin both their careers… Domont starts from a common, almost banal starting point, as well as from two protagonist characters who have nothing special. As the scenes pass, we understand that these are precisely the main quality and primary strength of Fair Play: the truth of the psychologies, and their humanity inserted into a highly competitive work environment are told at the beginning and progressively exposed with painstaking care. The delineation of the relationship that increasingly breaks down between the two protagonist characters possesses the emotional and psychological truth of a theatrical work, while the never-underlined staging tells of a director who constantly manages to keep a “strong” story on track, a theme-ready to explode into gratuitous melodrama if not properly handled.
And in Fair Play it never happens, there is not a single scene that slips into gratuitous effect, into the rhetoric of pain, into the misleading representation of abuse. Also, because Domont clearly and lucidly demonstrates that she wants to expose without judging, that she has a clear vision of the relationship between man and woman, which in no way means “taking sides”: the filmmaker is not interested in showing a victim and her tormentor, but rather a woman and a man who react differently to the pressures that life throws at them. Emily and Luke are the two figures best represented and developed by this genre of cinema in a very long time, absolutely credible-both in their love story and in showing their respective emotional and human limits that will lead it to shatter. Fair Play he never seeks the dramatic scene, he never intends to venture into the labyrinth of the psychological thriller even when he manages to build a very strong emotional tension. It is a film that wants and succeeds in showing the truth, however unpleasant and depressing it is.
Fair Play Review and Analysis
In the very first scenes of the film Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich play Emily and Luke flatly, not characterizing them in any satisfying way. Little by little, however, we understand that this is exactly the intent of both the actors and the director: the banality of the situation and the characters must be fertile ground for a story that has nothing special precisely because it can happen to anyone, and for this reason, it exposes its scope, on the contrary, is universal. Emily and Luke are simply a man and a woman, that’s all. Then the performances of the two actors deserve to be admired, as they know how to maintain the subdued credibility of the roles until stress forces them to explode. And even in this case they never really go over the top, always remaining credible also thanks to dialogues of devastating psychological finesse.
Domont shows that she has an opinion about what she is putting on stage, but this never makes her fall into the mistake of taking a rhetorical position, a mistake that would have ruined her film. Everything that happens in Fair Play is the result of weaknesses, mistakes, and gray or black areas in the souls of two people, not just one. This makes the film “truer” than much, much cinema that has turned its gaze to this theme, and this unfortunately means it is truly precise in exposing the abuse of men over women in the working environment. Regarding this last aspect, Fair Play turns out to be a New York work through and through, a truthful representation of how this metropolis manages to push people and situations to the limit in the name of individual success. If New York truly is the city that never sleeps, it could also mean that those who live there can’t risk falling asleep…
The difficult relationship created between Emily and Luke shows us how much the relationship was already on a razor’s edge, even though it seemed like a honeymoon every day. Feelings of anger, jealousy, and envy appear in Luke. He starts to doubt the morality, value, and talent of the one who will one day be his wife. The obsession with not being enough is born in him, trying to commit himself, studying to be better, and giving his best at work, not understanding that, with all the possible and imaginable efforts, if in the wrong place, the efforts would have been null and void. Taken by envy, he tries to harm his girlfriend, giving her incorrect advice to see her fail, he undermines her self-esteem with arrogance, criticizing her for the way she dresses to the point of making her feel inferior compared to other male colleagues in the office, as if she were a simple object. decorative for the company, and that he had deserved that position throughout his life, because he was worthy, unlike Emily.
We can see in the film how Luke quickly passes from the insecurity phase where he tries to improve himself professionally, working on himself, putting himself to work, and studying hard, almost making him lose his mind. In addition to violence, the psychological violence towards Emily first begins, by trying to compromise her self-esteem as a woman and girlfriend, her authority as her boss, and her value, humiliating her in front of the entire family. To then move on to physical violence, and even rape. This shows us how a weak mind subjected to emotional stress, which puts pressure on some unresolved traumas such as ” never feeling enough ” in this case, can end up pouring out its anger and frustrations even on “loved” people, up to point of making crazy gestures, knowingly or unknowingly?
We can see how the issue of women in the world of work is also highlighted. How difficult it is to fit in and receive promotions and merit. And when you achieve the desired result with so much effort, thanks to meritocracy, you must receive comments, or hear slanderous and lying rumors about how you managed to achieve that job promotion, immediately alluding to good acquaintances, nepotism, or that you are keeping the boss company the night before. The sad reality today, which too often leads us to experience the workplace as a jungle, a ring on which to defend ourselves with, “What are you saying?!“.
Phoebe Dynevor proves truly perfect in the role, convincing with her calm and restrained acting, which balances her boyfriend’s progressive excesses. Dynevor’s Emily is a tightrope walker: she has to prove her worth in her work but at the same time she has to try not to belittle Luke too much with her skill, she has to support his intuitions even if she isn’t convinced of them, just to show him that she believes in him, thus putting both their careers at risk. She has to go out and party with her colleagues to be accepted, but at the same time, she can’t neglect her partner, who is quickly turning into someone she no longer recognizes. If initially Alden Ehrenreich‘s Luke was casual, spontaneous, and self-confident, over time he becomes increasingly darker, increasingly petty, and resentful; the actor knows how to convey this transformation in a very convincing way, striking us with the extremes to which he is capable of reaching.
The pace remains high throughout the film and the screenplay is well constructed, progressing fluidly and quickly. Note should be made to some deviations taken from the plot, such as the one on the lessons with a self-help guru taken by Luke, which are not explored to the point of being functional for the narrative as a whole. The ending, however, is decidedly successful (even if we must admit the moment immediately preceding it left us a little perplexed) and allows the viewer to reach the end credits with a certain satisfaction: Chloe Domont‘s film captures and involves, dragging us into the story of self-determination of a protagonist who, despite her extreme femininity and delicacy, has nothing to envy of the toughest heroines.
Fair Play Review: The Last Words
Fair Play is a film well studied in its narrative structure, capturing the audience’s attention from the first minutes, keeping them in suspense, and constantly creating suspense. The themes covered are extremely strong and engaging, not to mention the splendid interpretation of Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich, who manage to bring every detail and emotion of the film to the audience. We can consider the first film written and directed by Chloe Domont a success. Fair Play is an excellent thriller, which captures the viewer with a story that tells what it means to be a woman in the world of work today. Excellent performances by Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich.
Fair Play Review: Story That Tells What It Means To Be A Woman In The World Of Work Today - Filmyhype
Director: Chloe Domont
Date Created: 2023-10-06 18:44
4
Pros
- Ambition can be a destructive force, especially when it is paired with insecurity and ego.
- Gender dynamics can play a significant role in the workplace, even in progressive industries.
- It is important to be able to communicate effectively and honestly with your partner, especially when faced with challenges.
- Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse that can have devastating consequences for the victim.
Cons
- Sometime the plot feels predictable
