"This job is killing us."
"We all do filthy things. But we don't trek it back into the office."
— Campbell
Fair Play is an American erotic thriller. The feature directorial debut of Chloe Domont, it debuted at Sundance 2023 before being acquired by Netflix, who released it on their platform on October 6, 2023.
Emily Meyers (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke Edmunds (Alden Ehrenreich) are two financial analysts working for the same hedge fund. They're also secretly engaged. But when Emily is unexpectedly promoted above Luke, the tension that arises threatens to unravel both their professional and personal relationships.
The film costars Eddie Marsan, Rich Sommer, Sebastian de Souza, and Geraldine Somerville.
Previews: Trailer
Tropes:
- Bolivian Army Ending: To a degree of Left Hanging. Luke has been fired and lost much of his sanity as well as raping his long-term girlfriend. Emily has committed a pretty definitive crime in stabbing Luke, but will he attempt to pursue it since he knows he raped her? Will either of them work again or end up in any kind of police or prison situation?
- Book Ends: The film starts and ends with Emily getting blood on Luke: in the first scene they have period sex and her blood gets everywhere, while in the last scene she stabs him in the arm with a knife.
- Bridal Carry: One of the scenes that establish how loved-up Emily and Luke are before the promotion is him sweetly carrying her in his arms while crossing the street. He's also literally asked her to marry him in the previous scene.
- Cluster F-Bomb: After being fired, Quinn is heard screaming at the viewing analysts to fuck off and that they won't last "a fucking week".
- Elite School Means Elite Brain: The brilliant Emily went to Harvard.
- Exact Words: When Emily is trying to get Luke to have sex with her, she tells him (lightheartedly) that she'll get him promoted if he does. He throws this at her when she tries to get him out of her presentation.
- Get Out!: In the last scene, Emily tells Luke to permanently get out of the apartment, as she's done with him.
- Hate Sink: Aside from Luke, Campbell and Emily's overbearing mother come off as the most universally hated characters throughout the entire film.
- Headbutt of Love: A shot in the trailer has engaged couple Emily and Luke press their foreheads together as her voiceover says that the job is killing them.
- Ivy League for Everyone: The only schools mentioned are traditionally elite ones. Emily went to Harvard, while other characters mention going to Brown and Duke. Somewhat justified, since this is a major hedge fund that will naturally draw its employees from high-ranking schools.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Campbell, for obvious reasons, shows ZERO remorse for all the trouble he had caused between Emily and Luke over the PM job, even gloating that Luke won't possibly be hired ever again now that he's fired.
- Like a God to Me: Luke tells Campbell that the job is his religion and Campbell is his god to convince him that he would give the PM position everything he's got. Unfortunately, the PM Campbell has actually hired for the job arrives at that moment, furthering Luke's humiliation.
- One of the Boys: Deconstructed. Emily is the only woman on her team, and she tries to curry favor with her team by indulging in pursuits like going to strip clubs. Luke tells her it won't work because she is still just a token.
- The One Who Made It Out: Campbell congratulates Emily on making it out of Long Island, going to Harvard, and working at prestigious Wall Street locations. It's not made clear if she's actually from a low-income family or if she's "just" not from the prestige of other employees.
- Perilous Marriage Proposal: The opening scene sees Emily and Luke having sex in a bathroom and then Luke proposing to her. She accepts - and, mere days later, gets a promotion that derails their entire relationship, breeds violent resentment between both of them, and culminates in Luke raping Emily and Emily stabbing Luke during an argument.
- Pink Is Feminine: When Luke criticizes her for her apparently feminine, "cupcake"-like dress sense, Emily tries out dressing more masculinely. She doesn't like it and switches it out for a pink shirt halfway through the day.
- Prim and Proper Bun: At work, Emily wears her hair scraped up in a bun, in contrast to her loose hair at home or her ponytail in-between.
- "Psycho" Strings: Jerky strings play after the most violent moments in the trailer, setting the mood for how unsettled Emily and Luke are.
- Rape and Revenge: Variation. Near the end of the film Luke and Emily have angry sex that devolves into Luke raping Emily as she begs him to stop. At the very end of the film Emily pulls a knife on him and stabs him, but her goal is less vengeance and more that he mans up and admits to being an insecure rapist.
- Sanity Slippage: Luke starts as pretty put together but the combination of losing the promotion to Emily and being belittled by his boss and co-workers causes him to become increasingly unstable.
- Secret Relationship: Emily and Luke are engaged but nevertheless keep their relationship secret at work, because there's a rule against them sleeping together. It unravels quickly when Emily is promoted above Luke.
- Sex Equals Love: Emily seems to be a believer in this. When her and Luke's relationship takes a major hit, she tries to convince him to have sex with her in belief that it will help them both. She makes the mistake of telling him she'll get him promoted if he sleeps with her. Luke throws this at her in front of her bosses when she attempts to deny that their relationship got in the way of her work.
- Showing Up Chauvinists: A male colleague at the hedge fund jokes about how emasculating it is to work under Emily, even though a previous scene established her competence by having a higher-up tell her she made a number of major calls in the previous quarter.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Subverted. An insecure Luke tells Emily that she dresses like a "fucking cupcake" (by which he means the mortal fashion sin of...pairing smart, tailored suits and light-colored shirts with some frills) like it's a Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization. In an effort to appease him, Emily shows up to work wearing a dark outfit, but gets uncomfortable and swaps it for a pink shirt in the middle of the day.
- Sleeping with the Boss: Throughout the film Luke insinuates that Campbell being attracted to Emily in some way played a part in her promotion, and finally accuses her of trading sexual favors for it. Emily explodes, saying that he can't accept that she earned that job all on her own, and her looks didn't matter.
- Surprise Incest: One of Emily's co-workers, Rory, tells a story about a guy banging his sister (while she was wearing a bag over her head) without knowing during a Fiendish Fraternity initiation.
- Villain Protagonist: Both Emily and Luke work for a business that merely widens the wealth gap and both are fully aware of it.
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Luke proposes to Emily at the beginning of the film...after they sneak off at his brother's wedding for a quickie, but she's on her period and they get blood all over their fancy outfits. Luke drops the ring in the hubbub and Emily sees it on the floor.
