Fair Play

Writer-director Chloe Domont’s feature debut is a Wall Street for the #MeToo era. A finance drama set in the merciless milieu of hedge fund managers, the film stars Phoebe Dynevor (TV’s Bridgerton) and Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story) as a couple whose secret romance is tested by a workplace where success is a zero-sum game.

Emily (Dynevor) and Luke (Ehrenreich) lead a double life. In one, they’re madly in love, share a cozy apartment, and plan to marry. In the other, they’re purely platonic colleagues working for One Crest Capital, where worker intimacy is a violation of company policy. When Emily is given the portfolio-manager role Luke had coveted, their private and public relationships become equally strained. Luke must work under Emily as her analyst, and finds himself in a position where even a moment’s hesitation can result in his fiancé’s advancement or humiliation. Already faced with proving herself within a traditional boy’s club, Emily is also forced to contend with the amorous advances of her superior. She’s trapped in a high-wire act where anyone might ascend the ranks or be brutally exiled — depending entirely on whether they bring in the money.

Domont has a pitch-perfect ear for finance jargon and business-bro vernacular, and brilliant insights into the machinations of corporate treachery. Alongside Dynevor and Ehrenreich, her assets include Eddie Marsan, who gives a performance of sinister genius as Emily’s boss.

Official Selection, 2023 Toronto International Film Festival

Content advisory: violence, sexual content, drug use, coarse language