The Price (2017) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The story takes place in suburban New Jersey, primarily around Hackensack, with Seyi working across the river in New York City's financial district. This setting creates a clear contrast between the intimate, vulnerable family home and the high-stakes world of Wall Street finance.

• setting
• location
• new jersey
• new york
• wall street
• finance

The film is set in present day contemporary times, grounding the story in a recognizable modern urban-industrial landscape with current issues like prescription drug dependence and federal financial scrutiny.

• time period
• present day
• contemporary
• modern

The film centers on the theme of ambition versus morality, exploring how Seyi's drive to succeed leads him toward unethical choices including fraudulent schemes and drug use. It questions whether success justifies breaching trust and the law, contrasting short-term gains with devastating long-term consequences.

• ambition
• morality
• ethics
• fraud
• success
• choices

Seyi is the American-born son of Nigerian immigrants, working in the competitive world of Wall Street finance. He is confident and capable but deeply insecure about his outsider status, leading him to create a fraudulent persona and rely on prescription drugs to maintain performance.

• seyi ogunde
• main character
• protagonist
• wall street
• nigerian american

Ife Ogunde is Seyi's stroke-ridden father whose dream of returning to Nigeria haunts the household. His illness and terminal condition cast a heavy burden on the family, anchoring the emotional core of the story and representing the weight of legacy and cultural heritage.

• ife ogunde
• father
• family
• nigeria
• legacy
• illness

The film examines Seyi's experience as the American-born son of Nigerian immigrants, portraying his feeling of being an outsider in elite finance circles while bearing the weight of his heritage. Seyi feels compelled to perform a forged version of himself to gain acceptance, revealing the pressure to assimilate in a globalized economy.

• immigrant identity
• nigerian
• identity
• belonging
• assimilation
• heritage

Wall Street represents both the arena where Seyi pursues success and the catalyst for his moral decline. The high-stakes financial world creates the pressure that drives his fraudulent schemes and drug dependency, serving as a backdrop that amplifies the film's themes of ambition versus ethics.

• wall street
• finance
• career
• ambition
• corporate

The family dynamics are central to the story, with Seyi balancing obligations to his ailing father, expectations around family legacy, and secrets that threaten to fracture relationships. The tension between protecting family honor and revealing painful truths drives much of the drama.

• family
• dynamics
• relationships
• obligation
• legacy
• secrets

Family secrets cast a shadow over the Ogunde household, with revelations threatening to fracture relationships and undermine the family's sense of security. The film explores the tension between protection and truth, asking whether keeping secrets ultimately serves or harms those we love.

• secrets
• family secrets
• revelations
• trust
• truth

Liz Sloane comes from a well-to-do background and represents a contrast to Seyi's immigrant roots. Her social status becomes a lure for Seyi to embellish his own story, testing the limits of honesty in romance and revealing how class differences impact personal connections.

• liz sloane
• romance
• relationship
• class
• dating

The film raises questions about whether success justifies unethical behavior, how far one should go to meet family expectations, and whether authenticity matters more than acceptance. It explores the cost of living a fabricated life and whether redemption is possible after major moral failures.

• morality
• ethics
• choices
• redemption
• deception
• integrity

The suburban New Jersey setting highlights the tension between immigrant roots and urban professional ambition. The family home represents vulnerability and obligation, while proximity to Manhattan provides the backdrop for Seyi's high-stakes career, physically embodying the conflict between two worlds.

• new jersey
• setting
• immigrant
• suburban
• contrast
• home