The Big Picture

• Fair Play is an excruciating film that explores the deteriorating relationship between two employees in a financial firm, highlighting the toxic effects of power imbalances.
• The film addresses the struggle women face in a cutthroat industry dominated by men, where their accomplishments are often undermined by judgments of sleeping their way to the top.
• The final scenes of the film depict the gruesome climax of the couple's relationship, raising questions about the destructive impact of work on love and the need for a more equitable society.

If those who have seen Marriage Story and Scenes of a Marriage deemed them too hard to handle, Fair Play is excruciating. Chloe Domont's directorial debut navigates the slowly deteriorating relationship between two employees at a financial firm. Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) are recently engaged, supposedly the best time for a couple, but instead of celebrating and wedding planning, they are tearing each other down day by day. It all starts to go downhill when Emily receives a promotion at the stock company, which she initially thought was going to Luke.

Although he initially seems unbothered that she got the job instead of him, Luke progressively questions his fiancée's sudden rise to the top and his future at the firm. The more praise that Emily gets in her new role, the more Luke craves for a share of the spotlight. When the power imbalance between them increases, their ability to solve problems and be supportive of one another wavers. In the end, their toxic relationship has the most (literally) bloody and gruesome outcome. Here is a breakdown of the film's final scenes and the message that the Netflix thriller is trying to convey.

The Engagement Party Was Just the Tip of the Iceberg for Emily and Luke's Toxic Relationship

After Luke goes MIA for a few days at both the firm and at home, Emily knows that he is an atomic bomb about to explode at any given second. As she receives numerous calls and text messages from her mother about the upcoming engagement party that she's organizing to celebrate the couple, the protagonist doesn't know what to do. When Emily is at an important meeting alongside her boss Campbell (Eddie Marsan) and her other co-worker Paul (Rich Sommer), she is ready to set her issues aside and deliver the best presentation she can for the firm's client. As she utters the first few phrases she's prepared to say at the meeting, Luke walks in brashly drunk. He interrupts Emily's presentation, accusing her of having an affair with an employee and offering him the opportunity to grow within the company in exchange for sex. If Luke didn't look pathetic enough when he begged his boss for a promotion earlier in the film, he sure does look even more lunatic in this scene. Yet, he is not only making a fool of himself in public, but is also tarnishing his fiancée's reputation as Portfolio Manager.

Unsure what to do to remedy the chaos, Emily isn't able to locate Luke after the meeting fiasco. She's furious that while she is trying to contact him, he's attending their engagement party as if nothing happened. Once Emily arrives at the party, a celebration of love becomes a celebration of disaster. She finally finds Luke next to the bar and confronts him for his actions at the firm and in their relationship. In a moment of tension, he finally gives into "the ugly thought" he was trying so hard to keep to himself. Luke accuses Emily of sleeping her way to the top, instead of working her ass off like he did all these years. This makes her incredibly hurt, because not only does the "love of her life" question her loyalty, but he is also invalidating her efforts in the firm. Why couldn't she have just gotten the promotion because she deserved it?

Emily's Conversation With Her Boss Shows the Truth of the Corporate World

The argument doesn't stop there. It extends to the bathroom where Emily and Luke continue to face off. Suddenly, their fight shifts into slightly aggressive kisses and sex. The chemistry-filled romance that viewers see at the beginning of Fair Play (when Emily accidentally gets her period) is long gone now. After telling Luke to stop being so violent, Emily shuts down and he rapes her. The shift from consensual to assault is seamless but evident.

The next day, bruises cover the side of her face and along her body. As Emily tries to cover everything up with makeup and business attire, she builds strength within herself to meet with her boss and save her position in the company. The protagonist lies to him, saying that Luke was her stalker instead of her lover and that he was so obsessed that he told everyone that they were in a relationship. By the end of this conversation, Campbell makes it clear that any mess like this can be immediately remedied by HR. Suddenly, Emily realizes the cold atmosphere of the corporate world, where people can elevate on the professional ladder or have their careers on the line at any given second. Those on top will always get away, while those at the bottom are simply discarded.

When Emily is in a reflective moment at her desk, she sees a new employee taking Luke's previous position. The new addition to the team is another woman, who instantly attracts the attention of other male coworkers. As Emily looks at her seated in the office chair, it's implied that the protagonist wonders if the woman will also go through as many pitfalls as she did in a cutthroat industry that is primarily dominated by men.

The Power Imbalance Takes Everything Away From the Main Couple in 'Fair Play'

After work, Emily doesn't know what to expect. She and Luke never formally broke up, but what happened between them the previous night was the last she would ever endure by his side. When she arrives home, there are suitcases on the floor and Luke is seated on the sofa, ready to give a final say to their relationship. He begins to ramble, saying he will find another job and move out so that she can have the apartment to herself. Emily immediately notices that he seems to have forgotten that he raped her in the bathroom the day before and doesn't even care to apologize.

That is when their most gruesome fight takes place. After taking so much judgment from her former fiancé ever since her promotion, Emily is done putting her head down to comply with his fragile masculinity. Things take a chaotic turn when she grabs a knife from the kitchen and begins to stab him until he recognizes what he did to her. As blood gushes on the floor, Emily is ruthless, quite literally losing her senses because of her outrage. When Luke gives in, she stops and the final shot has her telling him to wipe the blood off her floor.

Overall, it is clear that Domont wanted to take viewers through an excruciating experience to spark questions about our not-so-progressive society. After #MeToo, women might have gotten more of a say in certain cases, but social structures are hard to disregard. Many times, women and men can't have fulfilling relationships when the woman is more professionally established. Instead of being recognized for their work, their career growth is often undermined by whether they slept with someone to get the job or if they were hired just to fill in a minority gap. These judgments are sometimes subconscious, but they still exist when the traditional roles between men and women are reversed. Fair Play initiates a greater conversation about how power imbalance is still a topic that rarely has the spotlight, even though it is such a prevalent issue. The final scene shows how destructive two individuals can be to each other when work gets in the way, and keeps the audience reflecting on why work and love are competitors instead of companions.

Fair Play is currently streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

Stream on Netflix