Fair Play asks "if capitalism is compatible with love", says director
The erotic thriller has gone down a storm with viewers since landing on Netflix last week.
Fair Play director Chloe Domont has said that the new Netflix film questions whether capitalism is compatible with love.
Domont's feature debut – which she said "twists" the erotic thriller genre – follows Emily and Luke, a couple played by Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich whose passionate affair is derailed when the former gets a promotion over the latter at the hedge fund where they both work.
The film wrestles with the topic of male fragility as Luke is sent into a jealous rage by the news, and speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Domont explained how she'd enjoyed seeing some of the reactions to the film – especially those from older men.
“What has been surprising but also gratifying is seeing that it opens up conversations with men, especially older men rather than younger men," she explained.
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"I think older men… it feels like we unlock something inside them that they've been holding, and that they feel like they can be open and honest about talking their own experiences in these situations and in their marriages or divorces or the way they were raised... and I think that that's been incredibly rewarding and gratifying."
She added that some of the biggest surprises about the process came when she was originally developing the project – even leading her to question her own approach to some of the themes addressed in the film.
"Quite honestly, I felt like when I first started writing this script, I was writing from a place of anger and pain and frustration from my own experiences in these situations – feeling like men would weaponise their insecurity against me in ways that were unjust," she said.
Read more:
- Fair Play director: 'Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich had instant chemistry
- Fair Play director wanted to "twist" the erotic thriller genre
Domont continued: "But I think the more I got into the story, the deeper I got into filming it and all that stuff, the more I realised that in many ways, as much as women were victims of a system that worked against them, I realised that in many ways men were victims, too.
"And I think that that was a surprising realisation for me. And really, ultimately, you know, it raised an even bigger question about capitalism – which is like, you know, is capitalism compatible with love? Which... I don't know how to answer that.”
Fair Play is now streaming on Netflix. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
