Netflixs Fair Play turns the erotic thriller concept on its head with a deadly sharp ending.
This article containsFair Playspoilers.
They dont actually succeed, however.
It even stains Emilys bridesmaid dress as Luke goes down on her.
Im done with you now.
However, this sales pitch is a bit misleading.
Yet familiarity can just as much breed a false sense of affection as contempt.
The two work as ambitious and hungry analysts on equal footing within the firm.
It apparently was ground zero of their celebration.
The cause of this, of course, is that Emily got the promotion Luke thought was his.
But the one person who is supposed to be her ally throughout the B.S.
becomes, instead, her greatest enemy.
Is she going to be assaulted?
But concern evaporates into barely concealed jealousy upon hearing she got the promotion.
All he can offer is a half-hearted congratulations.
Domonts screenplay takes patient, subtle care at contrasting the unspoken differences between their backgrounds.
However, the journey to these peaks was a lot longer for her.
Luke comes from money.
We see it in the first scene at his brothers lavish wedding.
The film follows the deterioration of their relationship along two tracks: the professional and the sexual.
In the first sphere, Lukes privileged background instantly embitters him at work.
Hes made the firm almost as much money as Emily, but she got to move up?!
And yet, slowly were keyed into see why Emily is the better employee.
Luke feels entitled to be there.
He accuses Emily of never knowing what its like to want something and have it taken away.
Yet the far more intimate, and ultimately evil, betrayals occur when they take their crumbling dynamic home.
Again, the film begins with the pairs bodies entwined on the floor.
And Luke literally cannot.
Not until the ending.
That engagement party instead turns into a wake.
He calls her a whore.
She responds in kind by smashing a bottle across his head.
No, scratch that.
He doesnt want to make love to her; he wants to fuck her.
The psychological and physical contradictions that form our identities, not to mention our libidos, are messy things.
The need for closure explains itself when Emily initially responds in kind to what is obviously a bad idea.
Why not end things with some ugly, angry sex?
He doesnt even want good sex.
He wants to dominate.
He keeps going long after she told him to stop and that youre hurting me.
For too much ofFair Plays running time, Emily tried to humor and coddle her tantrum-throwing fiance.
She gives him space to whine and vent, and even make passive aggressive negs about her wardrobe.
This shocking ugliness puts into motion the final scenes that will likely leave viewers debating.
Instead she tries to get even by playing Lukes game of manipulations and professional subterfuge.
So, yes, she lies to Campbell about Luke stalking her for months at work.
He might recognize Emily makes him more money, but this is still a boys club.
Campbell says that Lukes day-to-day misbehavior is enough to blackball him professionally in the financial field.
That is punishment enough.
Its a quiet reminder that Emily might be in the inner circle, but she isnt in the club.
And at a moments notice Campbell could call her a bitch again if she displeases him.
By electing to pursue inaction, Campbell actively protects Luke.
And thats for the clear-cut dangerousness of one of his employees stalking another.
Rich white guys never strike out.
There is no comeuppance for this kind of asshole.
Hence the cathartic schadenfreude of the ending.
If he wont even say sorry, shell get justice with a blade.
She keeps cutting until he admits Im sorry and I raped you.
And after getting that impossible confession, if only for her alone, she at least has closure.
Now this sad excuse for a man can leave.Fair Playis on Netflix now.