The Real Villain in Netflix’s ‘Fair Play’ Is Toxic Work Itself

It is easy to understand Chloe Domont’s film Fair Play (Netflix) as a story about terrible white men doing terrible things that gaslight, undercut, and objectify a female colleague — and how, in order to make it in the world of New York hedge funds, where mansplaining and second-guessing in a culture of suspicion and doubt seem to be the norm, a woman in power is driven to be terrible as well.

That’s one read of the film — a read that focuses on individual characters and their particular story, as most popular culture narratives about wealth and work do — but that’s not all it is. It’s also an indictment of systemic environments — here, a “bro” culture, in a toxic workplace — that reward profit above all else and denigrate people who make the wrong call; that put people physically side by side but foster a culture of cutthroat competition; and that demand attention at all hours, notwithstanding personal relationships or obligations. In a film with characters who are all unlikable, it’s worth considering whether this style of work itself is the real villain.

The film follows Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), a female-male financial analyst couple who are living together and engaged in secret due to company antifraternization policies. When a senior-level job opens up, Emily hears that the job will go to Luke and they celebrate. As it happens instead, the company’s CEO, Campbell (Eddie Marsan), summons Emily to a bar late at night, praises her smarts and the way she has transcended her humble roots, and tells her the promotion is hers.

Emily’s job acumen is only as good as her instincts though, and she lets Luke’s poor analytic advice override her usually good judgment and makes a costly error, even after Campbell warns her that Luke’s mistakes have cost the firm tens of millions of dollars. Emily knows she has one chance to turn it around, eschews Luke’s next piece of questionable advice, and makes a decision based on her own judgment that redeems her. In the process, though, she loses herself, turning from studious and straightlaced into one of the misbehaving boys, complete with drunken nights out and sexual demands of Luke when she gets home, which he rebuffs.

Meanwhile, Luke spirals. After several days of being MIA at work, he returns to the office and interrupts a client meeting. He tells their bosses that he and Emily have slept together, and accuses Emily of harassing and stalking him.

Emily and Luke still also have the unfortunate matter of their engagement. An engagement party that neither Emily nor Luke wants but Emily’s mother won’t cancel turns very dark. Lies and violence mark the film’s final scenes, including a sexual encounter that begins as consensual and ends in Luke ignoring Emily’s pleas to stop.

Emily asserts power in at the end — but does so by lying to her boss to save her job and harming Luke for raping her. Her approach might only reinforce misogynistic views of women that too many men already have and that perpetuates the same male fragility that Luke — and far too many American men — suffer from.

It’s hard to cheer for the version of Emily at the film’s end. And it’s more difficult to find any redeeming qualities in Luke or anyone else who is both part of and a victim of the firm’s culture.

That’s why it’s also the systems that have created these characters that bear inspection.

The firm in Fair Play suffers from what researchers Jennifer Berdahl, Marianne Cooper, Peter Glick, Robert Livingston, and Joan Williams call “masculinity contest cultures,” characterized by sexual harassment, physical aggression, extreme work hours, and hypercompetitiveness. Workplaces like this are associated with higher rates of burnout, lower rates of well-being, and low levels of organizational dedication for both women and men, especially men from groups that are traditionally underrepresented. Companies bear tangible costs: An estimated $223 billion over five years in turnover costs alone has been attributed to “toxic” work environments, according to a 2019 study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management.

The difficulties these workplaces and industries have attracting and retaining women and people of color also limit financial and productivity gains. Diversity, equity, and inclusion of people of all genders, races, ethnic backgrounds, and lived experiences boost profits and improve problem solving: Globally, companies with the highest shares of gender and cultural or ethnic diversity on their executive teams were more likely to financially outperform those with the least (by 25% and 36%, respectively), according to McKinsey.

Most especially, in the entertainment industry, which Domont likens to finance as a male-dominated, high-stakes work culture, work cultures that push out all but those willing and able to compete in a dog-eat-dog, work-first environment have ripple effects that extend to the stories that are told and shared on screen and that help shape the way people see themselves and learn about others.

This isn’t just a for-profit problem. New Wall Street Journal investigative reporting on toxic work cultures at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the industry-funded federal agency that oversees financial institutions, also reveals consequences that may harm the public. Women employees’ allegations of sexual abuse, harassment, hazing, and pressures to engage in heavy social drinking allegedly contributed to high rates of turnover among trainees and regulators. The Wall Street Journal reported, “An internal review cited the FDIC’s struggles to retain examiners as part of the reason it didn’t detect problems with some of the failed banks earlier.”

Fortunately, a new McKinsey/LeanIn.org study addresses effective practices to help to shift masculine work cultures while boosting profits, productivity, and representation. It identifies a set of policies and practices — including flexible work policies, manager training and career development programs, benefits for caregivers, rigorous tracking and metrics, and performance reviews that take DEI work into account — as effective in both boosting firm performance and attracting and retaining women, and especially women of color, who are most disadvantaged by masculine norms. Creating less toxic, more inclusive workplaces also has beneficial effects on workers’ happiness and sense of connection to their work.

Fair Play may be a thriller with a dysfunctional relationship at the center, but it’s also a horror story about the perils of an unforgiving, toxic workplace that facilitates abuse. It’s a tale about how systems that feed on testosterone-fueled power should be slashed and burned like Emily and Luke’s relationship, and replaced by a work culture that values humanity and dignity over competition, abuse, and harm.