The elements that make a romantic relationship last have been debated since the dawn of human mating and the beginnings of language.
Celine Song’s second feature film, Materialists, takes up this question and studies it through the lens of a professional matchmaker in New York City. The old dichotomy of money and power vs. true love is at the core of the story, and like a serious philosophical discourse, the question is never definitively answered. The film does, however, suggest some fairly simple answers to what makes a lasting relationship and what’s important in life.
Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey, The Peanut Butter Falcon) plays the chic and attractive protagonist Lucy, a failed actress and college dropout who is now a professional matchmaker for upper class New Yorkers. She meets multi-millionaire socialite Harry, played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), at his brother’s posh wedding, a product of one of her successful matches.
While the two chat, the third character in this triangle appears as a waiter serving them drinks. Chris Evans plays struggling actor John, Lucy’s former boyfriend and lover, who is financially broke. The problem is clear.
When Harry asks Lucy what she’s looking for in a partner, she explains her non-negotiable: “mind-numbingly, absurdly, achingly rich.” The movie’s direction is clear from this point—almost predictable. Harry fabulously courts Lucy: expensive dinners in exquisitely exclusive restaurants, love in his $22 million penthouse, and a pending whim-fulfilling trip to Iceland.
Careful camera work by Shabier Kirchner lends excellent artistry to cinematic narrative technique. While the penthouse looks amazing, there’s something sterile, almost tomb-like about its silent, ecclesiastical rooms. The camera slowly leaves Harry and Lucy in bed and glides out into a silent empty hallway, resting there for a few beats before rising to a window of square darkness. The next scene is John, standing on a graffiti-painted, dirty corner on the same night, trying to call Lucy.
Between Kirchner’s cinematography and the three primary actors, the audience is treated to subtle and powerful shots of each couple together with delicate body language and silent instinctual communication. The masterful acting by the leads allows us to feel like close observers, holding our breath, experiencing tender quiet moments between characters.
It’s easy to forget that Chris Evans played Captain America, that Pedro Pascal ever starred in The Mandalorian, or that Dakota Johnson was in Fifty Shades. That’s good acting.
One of the film’s revelations is that no matter how much objective information you have about people (“checking the boxes” as Lucy says), they still can be completely different than expected (“the intangibles”). It seems impossible to truly know a person, and these intangibles, like objective qualities, can make all the difference in the world. With enough money anyone can take extreme measures, like having their legs broken to gain more height (about 200 grand), or hide certain aberrant and malicious sides of their personalities beneath what seems to be a perfect profile.
Things change radically in Lucy’s seemingly perfect career trajectory when one of her hard-luck but sweet clients, Sofia (Zoe Winters in a subtle but strong performance), has an extremely bad outcome with what should have been a perfect match. And the seemingly perfect Harry has some secrets of his own.
If you’re looking for answers, the movie offers only suggestions. Perhaps the best of them is “Does your partner make you feel valuable?”
Though the ending is a little flat, the movie offers a compelling discourse on relationships and what makes a good lifelong partner (“a good nursing home companion and grave buddy,” as Lucy repeats). Multiple studies on the topic have concluded that in reality there is no clear answer to the question of why one person is attracted to another, but Lucy’s “feeling valuable” could be debated as well.
After seeing the film, one audience member without hesitation answered the question “Money and power or true love?” with “Oh, it’s all about the love.” The movie’s ending, while predictable, may surprise you. Just maybe.
Editor’s Note: Materialists is now playing at The SLO Film Center at the Palm Theatre.