With: Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan, Rich Sommer, Sebastian De Souza, Sia Alipour, Yacine Ramoul, Brandon Bassir, Jamie Wilkes, Freddy Sawyer
|
Written by: Chloe Domont
|
Directed by: Chloe Domont
|
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive language, sexual content, some nudity, and sexual violence
|
Running Time: 113
|
|
Date: 09/29/2023
|
|
|
|
Causing a Promotion
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Avoiding the restrictions of a standard erotic thriller, this brutal drama expertly and equally explores the explosive passions of its two characters in a truthful, vivid, and unflinching manner.
Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are passionately in love and newly engaged. But they must keep their relationship a secret at their job at One Crest Capital, a brutal hedge fund. Emily hears a rumor that Luke may be getting promoted to Portfolio Manager and tells him, but instead Emily gets the job.
Luke seems to take the news well, but soon tiny resentments begin to creep in. He convinces Emily to make an investment that results in a massive loss, and she recoups the money with a decision of her own. Their love life begins to suffer, and they begin arguing more and more. Finally, Luke gets down on his knees and begs the manager (Eddie Marsan) for a chance at a promotion. This fateful decision causes everything to spiral more and more out of control.
Coming mainly from a television background, Chloe Domont kicks off her feature writing and directing debut Fair Play with a jaw-dropper of an opening, involving an attempt at intimacy in a restroom, blood, and a wedding ring. It's both a portrait of a relationship at its most passionate, and an establishing of the subsequent tone. The movie continues in a squirm-inducing way as the relationship begins to curdle, bit by bit, and with a sickening logic. The passion turns from sensuousness to rage, and the characters lash out at each other in the same unthinking, animalistic ways with which they once embraced each other.
But even if the characters aren't thinking, their behavior always seems to come from a logical, emotional place. We believe their feelings, and their actions follow. Moreover, both characters are treated more or less equally, both fatally flawed. Domont also uses the hedge fund world to brilliant effect, playing up the toxic, callous atmosphere in which a co-worker will turn on another co-worker on a dime, and with no remorse. (Her complex financial-speak dialogue sounds authentic — and alien — and serves to further unsettle.)
To be sure, Fair Play is not an easy watch, but it's a fascinating portrait of souls becoming corrupted, almost without warning.
|
