# Fair Play (2023 film)
**Fair Play** is a 2023 American erotic thriller written and directed by [Chloe Domont](https://www.edgepedia.org/chloe-domont), her feature debut, about a young couple who work as analysts at the same New York hedge fund and whose engagement collapses after the woman is promoted over the man.[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICUPlr3EEI) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) It stars [Phoebe Dynevor](https://www.edgepedia.org/phoebe-dynevor) as Emily and [Alden Ehrenreich](https://www.edgepedia.org/alden-ehrenreich) as Luke, with Eddie Marsan as their boss Campbell.[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, was acquired by Netflix, opened in select theaters on September 29, 2023, and began streaming on Netflix on October 6, 2023.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Written and directed by | Chloe Domont, her feature film debut[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICUPlr3EEI) |
| Starring | Phoebe Dynevor (Emily), Alden Ehrenreich (Luke), Eddie Marsan (Campbell), Rich Sommer (Paul), Sebastian de Souza (Rory)[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023) |
| Setting | One Crest Capital, a cutthroat New York hedge fund where workplace policy forbids the couple's relationship[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) |
| Premiere and release | Sundance Film Festival, January 20, 2023; theaters September 29; Netflix October 6, 2023[4](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/fair-play-is-a-tense-examination-of-vicious-cycles-wrapped-in-a-toxic-relationship-thriller/) • [3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023) |
| Runtime and rating | 113 minutes; rated R for pervasive language, sexual content, some nudity, and sexual violence[5](https://apnews.com/article/edc0f6ae640f77b9c52e55a054063961) |
| Critical reception | 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (233 reviews); Metascore 73 on Metacritic (47 reviews)[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fair_play_2023) • [7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fair-play-2023/) |
| Key crew | Cinematographer Menno Mans, editor Franklin Peterson, composer Brian McOmber[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and themes
Emily and Luke are engaged analysts at One Crest Capital who hide their relationship because company policy forbids it.[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) When a portfolio manager is fired, Luke expects the promotion; Emily receives it instead, and the power shift in the office destabilizes their relationship at home.[8](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/fair-play-netflix-sex-review-b2423915.html) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/edc0f6ae640f77b9c52e55a054063961) Luke's initial support curdles into resentment: he questions how Emily got the job, suggesting she slept with the boss or was a diversity hire, and he buys into a leadership program run by a self-help figure whose book urges him to "live by his own rules".[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/fair-play-this-stormy-bitter-office-thriller-doesnt-pull-its-punches) The film ends with a bloody confrontation; Domont told Netflix Tudum that "the knife drop for me is a real mic drop".[10](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/fair-play?inapp=trueOs)
The film examines gender power dynamics in both the workplace and the relationship. Domont said she "set out to make a thriller about gender power dynamics within a relationship that happens to be highly sexual" rather than an erotic thriller as such.[11](https://apnews.com/article/12e1576b9bafdf1750515698a12c25b9) She drew on personal experience, describing relationships with men who were threatened by her ambitions, and told *Time* that the script began "from a place of anger and frustration" but that during rewriting and editing she came to feel that "men are victims of the system too".[4](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/fair-play-is-a-tense-examination-of-vicious-cycles-wrapped-in-a-toxic-relationship-thriller/) • [12](https://time.com/6324638/fair-play-sex-scenes-male-fragility/)
## Production and direction
Domont came to the feature from television, with directing credits on episodes of the dramas *Suits* (2019) and *[Billions](https://www.edgepedia.org/billions-tv-series)* (2022), and reviewers noted the film's prestige-TV stylings.[9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/fair-play-this-stormy-bitter-office-thriller-doesnt-pull-its-punches) Cinematographer Menno Mans shot the office through glass partitions and around multi-screen terminals, so that the firm's hierarchies are written into the floor plan and fluorescent lighting exposes every tension; Domont explained that holding shots on the characters' faces, rather than cutting away, builds the tension.[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) • [4](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/fair-play-is-a-tense-examination-of-vicious-cycles-wrapped-in-a-toxic-relationship-thriller/)
## Reception
The film was a hit at its Sundance debut, where tweets about its steamy scenes led some to declare the return of the erotic thriller; film historian [Karina Longworth](https://www.edgepedia.org/karina-longworth), creator of the podcast *You Must Remember This*, wrote that "it does for the 2020s what 'Fatal Attraction' did for the late 80s".[11](https://apnews.com/article/12e1576b9bafdf1750515698a12c25b9) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 86% critics score from 233 reviews, with a critics consensus praising its assured style and juxtaposition of "premarital disharmony with greed and gender politics"; the audience score is 54%.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fair_play_2023) On Metacritic it scored 73 of 100 based on 47 critic reviews, rated generally favorable, with 39 positive, 7 mixed, and 1 negative review.[7](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fair-play-2023/)
Critics divided over the label and the third act. The Associated Press's review argued the film is "neither especially erotic nor much of a thriller" but a gripping battle of the sexes in a misogynist corporate world, and found the final act lurid and overcooked.[5](https://apnews.com/article/edc0f6ae640f77b9c52e55a054063961) Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times called it a smart, crackling thriller about sex, money, gender, and power.[2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor) Reviewers singled out the lead performances: RogerEbert.com credited Dynevor with a "barn burner" performance and Domont with "thrilling mastery of slow-burn tension".[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023)
## References
1. [FAIR PLAY | Official Trailer | Netflix, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vICUPlr3EEI)
2. [Fair Play review: A splendid erotic boardroom thriller, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-27/fair-play-review-netflix-erotic-thriller-alden-ehrenreich-phoebe-dynevor)
3. [Fair Play movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fair-play-movie-review-2023)
4. ["Fair Play" Is a Tense Examination of Vicious Cycles Wrapped in a Toxic Relationship Thriller, Sundance.org](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/fair-play-is-a-tense-examination-of-vicious-cycles-wrapped-in-a-toxic-relationship-thriller/)
5. [Movie Review: In 'Fair Play,' a battle of the sexes on Wall Street, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/edc0f6ae640f77b9c52e55a054063961)
6. [Fair Play (2023), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fair_play_2023)
7. [Fair Play Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fair-play-2023/)
8. [Fair Play review: Ugly, sexy drama takes us inside the Wall Street boys club, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/fair-play-netflix-sex-review-b2423915.html)
9. [Fair Play review: a stormy, bitter office thriller, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/fair-play-this-stormy-bitter-office-thriller-doesnt-pull-its-punches)
10. [Fair Play Cast, News, Videos and more, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/fair-play?inapp=trueOs)
11. [Sundance goes wild for sexy corporate thriller 'Fair Play', AP News](https://apnews.com/article/12e1576b9bafdf1750515698a12c25b9)
12. [The Director of Fair Play Breaks Down Those Sex Scenes and Talks Male Fragility, Time](https://time.com/6324638/fair-play-sex-scenes-male-fragility/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Erotic thrillers and dramas*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 20, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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