(L to R) Alden Ehrenreich as Luke and Phoebe Dynevor as Emily in Fair Play
, you’ve probably heard that it opens with an oral sex scene. Luke and Emily are attempting a quickie in the bathroom at a friend’s wedding when they discover that she’s menstruating. The moment is played for charm rather than embarrassment. Emily’s dress is ruined, and Luke laughs. Still covered in blood, they decide to marry.
I wanted to set up that this is a man who you don't think is threatened by women. And the idea that he has her blood on his face and the way he laughs about it, I think it makes you love him. This idea that period sex is taboo is ridiculous. So he starts to build this other narrative of how he was robbed of it, how he’s actually the victim. It’s his inability to face his pain, face his misogyny that causes so much harm to him and her. For me, more than being a film about female empowerment, this is a film about male fragility.
However, there is a moment in the film where after he’s finished, he questions, “Did I hurt her? Did I cross the line?” But he’s so out of it, the thought doesn’t go farther than that. That’s what we discussed. But also this idea that she had smashed a bottle. She had inflicted some kind of violence on him, which he thinks opened the door for him on physical harm. But he doesn’t think it’s rape. He’s genuinely surprised.The gray areas of rape were on my mind.
I don’t judge Luke for having those feelings. I do judge him for what he does with those feelings at a certain point. It came from me being in relationships with men who were either threatened by my ambition or threatened by any little bits of accomplishment I had. If there was any moment where I was doing well and they weren’t, you’d feel it. And it was always something neither of us ever felt we could talk about. It was just this elephant in the room.
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