Materialists spoilers incoming.
Materialists is the much-hyped ‘thinking woman’s rom com’ from Academy Award-nominated director, Celine Song, starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans. Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is a single high‑end matchmaker in Manhattan, expertly pairing crazy rich and crazy desperate Manhattan-dwelling single clients by the cold logic of height, salary and even BMI—a world where love is optimised, not felt. She and her colleagues at the matchmaking agency speak like Wall Street traders, discussing their clients over cigarette breaks using terms such as ‘asset optimisation management’, seeking ‘non-negotiables’ and ‘dealbreakers’. The world depicted is the cold hard evidence of how capitalism and cupid have collided, in a culture exhausted by dating apps and living online.
While the gamification and commodification of love might seem exaggerated and bleak in Materialists, Song explains that this is deliberately the case. And there is no one more jaded and cynical about the pursuit of happily ever after than our protagonist Lucy. But into her clinical data-obsessed orbit saunters the ‘unicorn’, Harry (Pedro Pascal): suave, gorgeous, optimum height and wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. And unbelievably, still single. Yet at that exact same moment her ex, the penniless, aspiring actor come caiter-waiter also collides back into her life and thus unfolds a love triangle for the ages.
Song, who is originally from South Korea, is known as an expert in love triangle portrayals, after her debut, double Oscar-nominated Past Lives depicted the story of childhood friends Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and the way their connection as children defined their lives – as well as Nora's marriage to husband Arthur (John Magaro). And while Past Lives has been praised for its beauty and nuance, Materialists is a little more clumsy. And I found the chemistry to be lacking between the three lead characters. Nevertheless, Song has undeniably created a romantic drama that leaves you questioning the state of romance in 2025.
GLAMOUR caught up with Song last week to discuss the film’s themes, messaging and what she learned from her own experience as a matchmaker in Manhattan 10 years ago.
Starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, it's very much about the relationship between love and money, and the inevitable connection between the two.
Why did you choose to focus on dating in Manhattan as the subject of Materialists?
I was inspired by the time that I worked as a matchmaker. I did it for about six months and I think I learned more about people and what's in their hearts in those six months than I did in any other part of my life. So even as I was leaving that job, I think I was like, "I think I'm going to write something about it one day."
Dating is of course a game that we all play in search of love. It would always come down to the numbers. It would be height, weight, age, income. I had just got married, and I remember thinking, "Well, I'm not sure if any of those things are going to lead to this thing, love," which is a great ancient mystery and a total holy miracle.
How do you think that the dating scene has evolved and changed since you worked as a matchmaker a decade ago?
I think that it has gotten worse since then, because I think that the convenience with which how good the algorithm and how easy everything is to date online. I think that those things are actually leading to what's becoming harder and harder about actual love, because part of what the movie's interested in is the commodification and objectification of human beings.
And we're seeing the way that we're trying to turn ourselves into merchandise. And of course the most important line in the film is the line, "I'm not merchandise, I'm a person." So because of that, I know that we are always fighting the problem of a merchandise cannot love other merchandise, but a person can love another person. But it's very hard when you're buying things on Amazon and going on Instagram, and then to go straight to a dating app and you just start swiping on people like merchandise…I think it's making it difficult to do something that is, at the end of the day, something so simple and uncontrollable as love.
What was portrayed so accurately in the film was the cynical side of it, especially in the language Lucy and her colleagues use, the ‘asset optimisation,’ ‘non-negotiables,’ ‘deal-breakers’.
Well, when I think over the course of the film, of course we see the way that it's going to always fall apart because all commodification and objectification of human beings is going to always lead to dehumanisation. And of course, Lucy is going to learn that lesson through Sophie and through even Harry, who does something that is very inhuman to himself, which is to break his own legs.
Is the plastic surgery that Harry has had in the movie - breaking his legs to have them extended so that he is taller - a common thing?
Yes. I read somewhere that the average American man is 5 ft.8, and every single person that I work with as a matchmaker, they said, "The guy has to be above six feet tall." So what that means is that most Americans do not fit into that category. And then if you are somebody who thinks of yourself as merchandise, they're saying, "I'm not merchandise, I'm a person." Well, Harry really thinks of himself as merchandise. It makes total sense for you to get that surgery so that you're more valuable as merchandise if you can afford it. And the truth is that it's so heartbreaking, and to me, it's really a thing that comes from dehumanisation, it's what happens from the commodification of all of us, which in the beginning of the film seems like fun and it's a game and we all get to participate and Lucy's an expert in it. She's like a stockbroker for stock. And then of course you see the way that it's going to start to fall apart, and then you're going to realise that actually love is something that cannot be quantified.
I write a lot about singleism that is inherent in our society, in that it's often rare to see portrayals of single women or men who are happily fulfilled and not looking to be coupled up. And I note that there wasn't any representation of that really in the film…
Well, I think that it's not necessarily representative of that particular thing because it is about the dating market, the marriage market. So the beauty of being single will be underrepresented. Because, of course, it's about people who are desperate to be not. But I think Lucy, in the beginning of the film, admits that she's happy to die alone. And she jokes that she wants to marry someone rich, but she doesn't really mean it. She's like, "I think I'm good." So I think that it is totally possible, and also I think there's some characters whose singledom is not even explored. Like Lucy's boss, we don't know anything about what's going on with her.
So I think that there are, of course, ways to be single in a beautiful way and I think the movie has some people who are like that. But of course the centre of the story is somebody like Sophie, who's desperate to not be single anymore.
I wanted to talk to you about the character Sophie P and why you thought it was so important to include that storyline of assault in the film.
If I'm saying that I'm going to make a movie about the actual way that [dating] exists in the modern world, and I want to be as honest as possible, you would be really irresponsible to not talk about this thing [assault], that for so many of us, presents as a very real risk of starting from our first dates. 'Cause I feel like I remember growing up as a young girl, going on a first date and knowing that this is always a possibility, there's always a risk. There's a lot of trust.
I think it was interesting to see all the women’s motives for wanting to not be single in society…
I think that the word that was really important in the film is the word ‘valuable’. And I think that that's something that I've run into over and over again. I'm like, "Why do you need somebody who makes that money?" "Why do you need somebody who is that tall?" And the answer is always, "Well, because I myself do not feel valuable, and I would like to be desired by somebody valuable and therefore feel value in myself." But I think that this is actually a result of the way that the marketplace or that capitalism has started to try to colonise our hearts where we're trying to turn ourselves, again, into merchandise, to a thing that needs value for a right to exist and the right to be loved. And you're like, "No, a human being deserves to be loved because they just are." It's an existential problem.
And I think that love is something that should feel like it's not something that we need to earn…And I think that this is a way that capitalism has made all of us feel really not valuable, by making us feel replaceable, like we are only as important as the way that we are evaluated in terms of net worth, how many followers etc.
Baggy jeans are your answer to heatwave dressing.
What do you think the messaging of the film is?
Everything that I think we do is to cure ourselves of this very human problem, which is human loneliness, and I think that there are so many ways that people try to do it. Some people go to concerts or they buy Labubus, or take drugs or have a lot of sex with strangers. There are so many different ways that I think that we're trying to work through that. But I think in the middle of working through all of that, I think that there is one cure to it, which is to be seen and to be understood and to be loved by another human being.
Materialists is in cinemas nationwide on Friday 15th August .
