(**1/2)
She beds him but thinks of someone else. Someone who’ll fulfill her sexual fantasies. What she can’t get at home, she’ll get elsewhere.
Must be easy for female viewers to plug into this desire. A longing that’s been the basis for countless romance novels. The kind with Fabio airbrushed on the front and torn, worn pages from late night reading.
It’s a notion Dutch actress-turned-writer/director Halina Reijn has fashioned into a romantic, erotic and tepid sex story. The setup is better than the payoff. In this age of 50 Shades of Grey, the sex play isn’t really outrageous. And as forbidden office relationships and emotional powerplays go, 2023’s Fair Play is much more cutthroat. In that turbulent film enraged hedge fund executives burned up bedrooms and boardrooms.
Romy (Nicole Kidman) is a high-powered CEO of a company she built from scratch. On the surface, she has everything. Money, children and a caring husband Jacob (Antionio Banderas). Why would she want more? But she does. Can’t quite put her finger on it, but if she’s masturbating alone at night, something is missing.
When Esme (Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me), her second in command, introduces her to the latest crop of interns, one stands out. The tall, lanky Samuel (Harris Dickinson, The Iron Claw). He insinuates himself into a mentorship with Romy, when she’d never volunteered her time. She protests. He insists, with cunning manipulation. With tricks and traps that force her hand. A risky office relationship turns into a sadomasochist affair. Supply closets. Hotel rooms. Bedrooms. Commands, power, domination. Can he really make her get on all fours and lick milk out of a saucer? Against her will? Or for her pleasure? Samuel: “I think you like to be told what to do.” You think!
The premise and plotting sound quite risqué. But the love scenes are modest by today’s standards. The full nudity is reserved for women and not men. It’s all tasteful, but not raunchy. The erotic games Reijn conjures are certainly stronger than what you can view on a soap opera, but that is what this story feels like. Like the soap The Young and the Restless, but with nudity. Not nearly as softcore as a Cinemax erotic series. Or as demonic as the dangerous sex play in films like The Night Porter.
Everything looks modern, clean and sterile. The production design (Stephen H. Carter), art direction (Molly Mikula) and costumes (Kurt and Bart) play into the contemporary feel. The coldness is documented by cinematographer Jasper Wolf, with music that shapes scenes (composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer) and editing (Matthew Hannam) that makes astute cuts. The direction plays out what is written on the page. It’s up to the cast to make this marriage-gone-wrong, affair-headed-in-a-bad-direction adult romantic drama sweat like a whorehouse on a Saturday night. They’re just too timid to go all the way.
Wilde is coy as the smart underling waiting for a chance. Banderas as the theater director spouse exhibits the patience of Job as the husband’s masculinity and ability to please his wife come under attack. Romy whines, “I’ve never had an orgasm with you.” Dickinson looks a bit ordinary to be the one who tempts a woman twice his age into liaisons that’re dangerous. Of all the young actors in the world to play the devil’s irresistible advocate, why him?
Kidman looks the age and feigns the successful executive well. She goes the extra mile to make Romy, the unsatisfied, midlife crisis parent, believable. Believable in a seven-year-itch way that quite often is reserved for men. Middle-aged husbands seeing sex as a youth-regaining elixir is played out. Women doing it is a fresh endeavor. Kidman interprets the ups and downs, in powerless and empowered moments, like a seasoned actor trying to understand the soul of a career-orientated woman who feels something is missing. When threatened by a rival male executive, her Romy is stands firm: “If I’m going to be humiliated, I’m going to pay some man to do it.”
For all its lovemaking, awkward confrontations, treachery and angst this movie is tamer than some will wish. Red hot. But never white hot. Never hot enough to burn the eyeballs. Never going into X-rated territory. Here, in this instance, the office powerplays and mind games are more interesting than watching the missionary positions on view. Which is not ideal for an erotic thriller.
Photo courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival
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Visit Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.