The female matchmaker. The handsome singleton. And her familiar ex-boyfriend.
The set-up feels ripe for the most standard of romantic comedy practices, and perhaps in the hands of a more traditionally-minded writer/director that’s what we would have received. But under Celine Song (Past Lives), Materialists defies genre expectation with a meditation on love and its transactional properties.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson, absolutely sublime) is a professional New York City matchmaker, working with a heft of wealthy clients who have mostly unrealistic (and occasionally unsavoury) expectations. Lucy isn’t deterred from such though, she’s just seen her 9th wedding invite from a couple she introduced, and she’s all too aware that if most of her clients boxes are ticked, some of the “non-negotiables” fall by the wayside.
At aforementioned wedding, Lucy meets Harry (Pedro Pascal, impossibly charming in the most effortless manner), the brother of the groom and, as she describes, a “unicorn”, dubbed so due to his line-up of desirable features; he’s in great shape, he’s handsome, intelligent, funny, comes from money and has amassed a fortune on his own. She briefly attempts to recruit him as a client, but he’s far too interested in wanting to know her and, despite her best efforts, she’s understandably beguiled by him.
Under traditional circumstances, Lucy and Harry’s union would be sweet and simple. But Song is all too aware that drama thrives on its complications, and at the same wedding Lucy is reunited with John (Chris Evans, finally turning in beautiful, reflective work after a series of underwhelming post-Avengers film choices), her somewhat disheveled ex, currently cater-waitering as he continues to work as a struggling theatre actor. Through flashbacks we gather that, as much as they loved each other (almost too much), they had a volatile dynamic. But there’s a sense of familiarity and comfort with John for Lucy, and though we already know the set-up will dance around Lucy and her having to choose between stability and attachment, Song orchestrates so with a mentality that’s never as easily telegraphed as it would appear on the surface.
Perhaps because she’s been working with the New York elite for so long that their wealth and expectation have rubbed off on her, Lucy, when we first meet her, presents herself as one of their own. She’s also matter-of-fact about the business nature, describing dating as a financial exchange. She sells it thick, and her clients buy it, but there’s the sense that Lucy doesn’t entirely believe her own spiel, and we see this in the way she’s continually tethered to John, even if Harry is the most obvious choice from an outside perspective.
Whether it’s subliminally felt by the audience or not, but Song, quite masterfully, presents Lucy’s relationships with both Harry and John in distinct manners in the way she frames their shots, giving us an insight into how things are viewed from an internal point. When Lucy and Harry are first talking, the camera pans back and forth between the two, suggesting interest but that they’re not at ease with each other just yet. When they’re dating and sharing conversations, they share the screen (they’re on the same page, so to speak), but there’s also the sense that you can’t help but let your eye wander at the larger landscape that surrounds them. With John, however, whenever they share a wide shot together, they remain the primary focus.
Such technical aspects only enhance Materialists overall and further its personality as a far deeper romantic exploration than some may be expecting. It’s romantic and comedic, but it’s far more dramatic and introspective. It’s what you’d expect from Song in the wake of Past Lives. She deconstructs the nature of love, and doing so with the winning trio at its core ultimately allows more people to bear witness to her genius. You may come to see Materialists off the faux promise of romantic shenanigans, but you’ll stay for the conversation it generates around romance, dating, and material expectations and their eventual inconvenience.
A film that’s sure to speak to female audiences in a very specific fashion – there’s a subplot around the perils of matchmaking and the abuse it can lead to – Materialists takes delight in its conversational temperament and breaking apart the expectation so many of us place on ourselves.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Materialists is now screening in Australian theatres.
