They’re the luckiest boy and girl alive, Luke and Emily. Close colleagues and covert lovers at a New York hedge fund – one of those temples of capitalism where everyone is buzzed on entitlement and top-grade espresso – this young and beautiful pair of analysts want for nothing. But then disaster comes – in the form of a promotion and fat raise for Emily (Bridgerton’s luminous Phoebe Dynevor). It’s this extra stroke of good fortune that upends the equation and sets in motion their scrappy race to the bottom. Emily initially pussyfoots around her new status and Luke (a smoldering Alden Ehrenreich) can only keep telling his brilliant fiancee “I’m so happy for you” for so long. He is burning with humiliation and resentment at being leapfrogged over by a member of the fairer sex, igniting the Netflix thriller Fair Play, the writer-director Chloe Domont’s deftly rendered and needle-sharp war of the sexes.
Domont, 36, who has directed episodes of Billions and Ballers, said her film was inspired by her own experiences navigating power dynamics while dating. “When my career started to take off, I had this feeling that my success would cost me my relationships,” she said. “I was dating men who, on the one hand, supported me and were attracted to me because I was ambitious and intelligent and they wanted me to succeed. But on the other hand, there was this feeling that they needed to get there first, and for whatever reason my accomplishments became a poor reflection of their self-worth.”
