When it dropped at the beginning of the month, many (including me, guilty as charged) dismissed Fair Play as the latest in the assembly-line series of films that mix erotica with thrill, and which have consistently proved to be top-of-the-charts winners for Netflix.

Let’s take 365 Days for example. The sexually explicit film which dangerously romanticises kidnapping and rape, became a rage when it dropped in 2020. Its on-the-nose sex scenes and salacious dialogue were much criticised, with many a review dismissing the Polish film as “thoroughly terrible” and “the worst movie I have ever seen”.

But 365 Days became one of the biggest hits for the streamer, zooming to the #1 spot in 28 countries, including India. It holds the distinction of being the second-highest Netflix title to remain at #1 and occupied the Top 10 slot for many months. Its success spawned another popular sequel two years later.

But there is no denying that it is a bad film. Filmmaker Gaspar Noe (Irreversible, Vortex) hit out at it with: “There is that very stupid Polish movie that was number one. It’s because people need to masturbate. They have a p***s or... the other way around.”

Fair Play, another sexually charged film in which the protagonists go at it like rabbits very often, is another winner for Netflix. Ever since its release on October 6, the Chloe Domont directorial, which marks her debut, has firmly etched its place in the Top 10 charts in many countries across the world. Critics have referred to it as everything from “razor-sharp” to “guilty pleasure” and the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes rates it at 88 per cent, higher than many topline films released in the recent past. This relatively small production has quickly become a phenomenon, making it on almost everyone’s watchlist and becoming the topic of conversation.

NOT JUST AN EROTIC THRILLER

Fair Play is making all the right noises because despite its lovemaking scenes being frequent, raw and visceral, it isn’t just another erotic thriller. In fact, it could well be looked upon as a rom-com in reverse, a film that delves deep into the dark spaces that its much-touted predecessors like Disclosure and Fatal Attraction didn’t.

The fragility of the male ego and the onslaught of sudden toxicity in a seemingly perfect relationship is the focus of Fair Play. The film has been inviting both curiosity and chatter. What works for it is the uncomfortable relatability factor (in various degrees) as well as its immense shock value.

Fair Play traces the degeneration of a relationship by ambition and jealousy and exposes the underbelly of human nature. What happens in the film is nerve-wracking, but far more unsettling is the realisation that all of us have those dark spaces within us that can prompt us to do exactly what the film’s protagonists do. It perceptibly examines gender dynamics and office politics through the canvas of the relationship that Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) share.

The young couple, who work at a cutthroat hedge firm on Wall Street that forbids romantic relationships between its employees, engage in mad, passionate sex right at the beginning, establishing the intimacy of their relationship. At the end of one such messy period-sex cavort, he drops down on one knee and proposes to her. She says ‘Yes.’ The next morning, they wake up in the apartment that they share, get dressed, walk out of the house in different directions and pretend not to know each other at work.

When a colleague is mercilessly fired, Luke becomes a potential candidate for a promotion, but Emily gets it. Luke makes all the right supportive noises, but the relationship starts to unravel. The couple spirals into a toxic whirlwind that threatens their romantic future, their careers, and the very perception of who they are.

INCISIVE AND UGLY

One of the most incisive films on relationship dynamics, the power-play in Fair Play becomes more and more uncomfortable to watch, resulting in a shocking climax where she holds a knife against him and spits out: “If I can’t make you cry, I am going to make you bleed.” Its denouement may be dismissed by some as over-the-top, but it is precisely that scene — accompanied by many others before it — that makes it a standout. The two lead actors are as compelling in their sexual chemistry as they are in their consistent achieving of an atmosphere of tension.

The film is also an important watch in the post #MeToo era. It fearlessly updates the male-female workplace power dynamic to modern times where the thin line between verbal wounds and literal abuses quickly dissipates. It is an ugly, unpleasant film, but that’s what it intends to be. That makes it a winner.

Priyanka Roy
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