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Spoiler alerts!! :) One of the best Netflix releases of the year. The movie brilliantly plays with power dynamics between men and women, making us realise how subtle those dynamics can be, and how they’re not always what we expect. The movie is never trying to make the main character Emily a feminist martyr, a symbol or a hero (she’s actually a really flawed character). As it’s not trying to make every men look like sexist bad guys. She is just a woman, who has equal work opportunities as men and is given a promotion for her talent rather than anything else. Just like Luke, Emily navigates a difficult work environment, however she doesn’t let anything or anyone bring her down. For me the real female empowerment comes from the fact that she’s not scared of working in a male dominated environment, she’s assimilated it and knows which cards to play in order to climb the ladder. The real threat turns out to be Emily’s fiancé, Luke, who we slowly watch falling into some sort of man “emasculation” trap after Emily gets the promotion. The actor does a great job at depicting the symptoms. His resentment is subtle and comes slowly, then escalates until it reaches a sad point. It raises some interesting questions about a man’s fragility and how they can feel. The story ends in the worst possible way: Luke trying to change the power dynamics back to him by assaulting Emily, as a result Emily threatening him with a knife. With all the tension, it couldn’t have gone any other way. At least the closing scene is a positive one: there’s a genuine apology from Luke. It’s not about revenge. It’s about making him acknowledge his responsibility for his actions and confront his failures. Emily can finally let go once he’s done that. This is a good thing as he’ll probably have learned from his mistakes and we can only hope he’ll live his life thinking differently after that. And that’s all we need to know in the end. P.S.: It really makes movies like Barbie look like a joke lol!!