Play the Game (2015 film)

Plot

While standing in front of a shelf in a supermarket, a young man, Adam, is approached by a mysterious woman, Isabel. In contrast to Adam's casual outfit, Isabel’s appearance is strikingly exquisite. Her red lipstick matches the color of her dress, high heels, toe- and fingernails. She is graceful and acts perfectly cool. Isabel gives Adam a red envelope. He opens the envelope and finds a note stating: “PLAY THE GAME – OR SOMEONE WILL DIE”. This marks the beginning of a series of mysterious events. Confused with what has just happened, Adam finds himself alone. He follows Isabel and succeeds to scribble her black car’s licence number on the envelope. Puzzled, Adam walks to a nearby pub, where he is a regular. In front of the pub, he encounters two guys playing poker. Being distracted by the game, Adam bumps into a man on his way into the pub. The man apologizes and each of them continues his way.

The man crosses the street and walks to Isabel's parked car. It turns out that he has stolen Adam’s wallet, which he gives to Isabel. She opens it and takes out a business card with Adam’s address. Immediately, Isabel heads for his apartment. Meanwhile, Adam is sitting on a bar stool in the pub, telling Ruby, the barkeeper and his friend, about the incident in the supermarket. Ruby reads the note and asks a couple of questions about the red-dressed woman. Finding that she is a complete stranger to Adam, Ruby advises him to go to the police. Since Adam rejects to do that, Ruby then suggests that he calls his Italian ex-girlfriend, Fabiana, having in mind the Italian licence number of Isabel’s car. Adam is reluctant, admitting that he hasn't called Fabiana for a long time. When he is about to leave, he realizes that his wallet is missing. Ruby suggests that he has probably forgotten it at home.

Meanwhile, Isabel breaks into Adam’s apartment. In the living room she puts his wallet on a table and places a miniature surveillance camera on a shelf. When Adam suddenly enters the front door, Isabel is forced to hide on the balcony. Adam finds his wallet on the table and goes to take a shower. This allows Isabel to sneak out of the apartment.

Having showered, Adam decides to call his ex, Fabiana. When he is about to sit on his couch, he bumps into a chess board and all the chess pieces fall down. Fabiana is in her office at the police station and is perplexed when Adam calls her. He asks her to check who the owner of the black car is. When she realizes that this is the only reason for Adam's call, Fabiana is outraged, but finally agrees to do him the favor. The whole conversation is witnessed by Isabel, who can spy on Adam thanks to the surveillance camera she has left in his apartment. The fact that Adam gets in touch with the police makes her angry and prompts her to write another note saying, “Calling the cops is against the rules. Meet me tonight 10 pm, Hotel Moser Verdino, room 318”.

After a while, Adam receives a call from Fabiana. She informs him that she has checked the licence number and found out that the car belongs to a person, who died two weeks ago. She adds that the car has been stolen. During this conversation, Adam rearranges the chess pieces. When a police commissioner, Roberto, enters Fabiana’s office, she is distracted by his appearance and it becomes obvious that they are in love with each other.

When Adam leaves his apartment to have a drink at Ruby's bar, Isabel prepares to break into it again to leave the second note there and to retireve her camera. Before he leaves, Adam moves the king’s pawn on his chess board from position e2 to e4. Later, when Isabel is in the apartment, she leaves a red envelope with the note on the chess board and moves the queen’s pawn from d7 to d5.

Adam is again in Ruby’s bar. He tells Ruby that he has followed her advice to call Fabiana. Then the two of them play pool, discussing the recent events. Adam explains that in case he knows Isabel’s address, he will not hesitate to go there and ask her about the rules of the game.

Back in her hotel room, Isabel takes a box from under the bedside table and takes out a gun. She checks the loaded drum magazine and hides the gun under a pillow. Then she prepares to take a bath. She takes off her clothes and her black wig. With her long, blonde hair she looks strikingly different.

At the same time, in her office, Fabiana seems to be concerned about Adam. Similar to Isabel, she also opens a small box. Inside, she finds a key and a photograph showing Adam and herself. She takes the key and prepares to leave. She drives from Udine to Klagenfurt, where Adam lives. When she enters Adam’s apartment, using the key from the box, she looks around the familiar place. She notices the red envelope, reads the note and, obviously alarmed, rushes off. Around this time, Adam, who has just lost another pool game, leaves Ruby’s bar. In his apartment he, too, reads Isabel's message. Realizing that he is already late for the appointment, he quickly heads for the hotel. When he enters the lobby, he does not notice that he is followed by the mysterious man who has stolen his wallet. Inside the dark hotel room 318, Adam finds Fabiana's dead body soaked in blood. Deeply shocked, he hears the entrance door being slammed shut.

On another day, Isabel again enters the supermarket. This time, she drives a fancy red sports car and wears a black dress matching her high heels, toe- and fingernails. She approaches Ruby, who is standing in front of a shelf. Ruby is surprised, but obviously the two women know each other, since they address each other by name. Isabel gives Ruby a red envelope and leaves. Ruby takes out a note. This time it reads “PLAY THE GAME – OR YOU WILL DIE!”

Cast

Analysis

The film leaves the audience with some unresolved mysteries, e.g. who killed Fabiana?, what is the nature of the "game"?, why was Adam chosen for the game?, why do Isabel and Ruby know each other?, etc.

A key to the film's interpretation is the color symbolism. The dominant colors red and black not only determine the relations between the three female characters, they also connect the women to the games being played (chess, pool, poker, solitaire).

Sequels

Who Killed Fabiana? Play the Game, part 1.5 was released in January 2016. It was written, directed and produced by Jörg Helbig, the running time is 39 minutes. Who Killed Fabiana? is a mockumentary which combines a discussion of Play the Game with some 40 short interviews. Among the interviewees is the entire cast of Play the Game. Some scenes in Who Killed Fabiana? also continue the narrative of part 1. Here, we are informed that Isabel Croft is an internationally wanted contract killer who, after the events in Klagenfurt, could escape to Berlin, Germany. We encounter her in Berlin, where she meets Fabiana's lover, Roberto d'Allessandro, and seemingly teams up with him.

The final part of the trilogy, Endgame, will go into production in spring 2016. It will be directed and produced by Jörg Helbig.