Past Lives director Celine Song is bringing us her latest romantic movie – Materialists – and we are perfectly seated.
Not unlike Celine's directorial debut, the film will follow a love triangle of sorts, including a “perfect match” character and one with a complicated history, with Dakota Johnson playing the female protagonist and Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal playing her love interests.
Sadly, UK romcom fans are having to wait a little longer than other parts of the world for Materialists to drop. While it was released in the US last week, it will drop in UK cinemas on 15 August. Talk about a summer of love.
Julianne Moore and Fiona Shaw's characters' sexuality is not the subject of the narrative, merely the context.
For the uninitiated, Song is known as an expert in love triangle portrayals, after 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). It beautifully explored how different relationships leave different impact on our lives, and we'll expect nothing less from the upcoming Materialists.
Song wrote, produced and directed Materialists, and Dakota told Collider that she had “the most amazing time” working with her. “I am deeply in love with her, and with her as a director, as a filmmaker, as a human,” she added.
Here's everything we know so far about Materialists.
Materialists UK release date
It will be available to watch in UK cinemas from 15 August.
Materialists plot
According to the film's plot synopsis, “a young, ambitious New York City matchmaker [played by Dakota Johnson] finds herself torn between the perfect match [Pascal] and her imperfect ex [Evans].”
In the film's trailer, we see Dakota's character Lucy celebrate the 9th marriage that resulted from her matchmaking efforts. Her own love life is more confusing, though, when it is revealed that while she has met her “perfect match” in the form of a rich bachelor, she may still be harbouring a connection with her ex who is waiting tables in anticipation of a big acting break.
It depicts a 40-year-old woman's steamy fling with a young hipster.
Celine Song is a genius when it comes to expressing the nuances of romance, but we predict Materialists is about your “perfect match” versus who you are instinctively meant for.
In an interview with the New York Times, she explained that just like Dakota's character, she worked as a matchmaker in her 20s. What Dakota's Lucy must decide is whether she wants to prioritise the “materialist” things in life, with a wealthy love match, or go back to her ex of five years who she clearly shared a passionate relationship with.
It's very much about the relationship between love and money, and the inevitable connection between the two. Song is also determined to challenge the way romcoms can be dismissed.
“When we see trailers for a movie like this, people just start calling it a chick flick — there’s a very easy way that you can dismiss it,” she said. "I’m really interested in directly addressing the way that we completely dismiss matters of the heart…
“It’s a genre where every single person can walk into it and feel connected. You must relate because love is a drama that you are in. You cannot go through life without any relationship to love whatsoever.”
She has also argued that the decline of romcoms “diminish the role of an actress”. “Think about the superstar actresses of that time where romantic comedies ruled, like Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock. They themselves had power alone — it didn’t matter who the male leads were, the audience would show up for it.”
Materialists cast
Joining Dakota, Pedro and Chris will be Succession star Zoë Winters, Dasha Nekrasova (Bad Behaviour), Louisa Jacobson (The Gilded Age) and Marin Ireland (Eileen).
Materialists trailer
A trailer has dropped, and we are obsessed. Will Dakota's Lucy opt for a fairytale romance with her wealthy perfect match or a messier, chemistry-filled dalliance with her gorgeous ex? We cannot wait to find out.
