Materialists

In 2025, Celine Song followed her Oscar-nominated debut Past Lives with Materialists, a Manhattan-set romance that pits pragmatic love against messy history. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a high-end matchmaker who believes compatibility can be engineered, measured, and scored like a business deal. Her orderly life with John (Chris Evans), a stable and successful partner who fits every box on her checklist, gets upended when Harry (Pedro Pascal), her charismatic ex-boyfriend, walks back in. The film, produced by A24 and Killer Films, cost $20 million and grossed over $107 million worldwide, a strong return for an adult drama. Critics praised the three leads' chemistry and Song's sharp dialogue, though some found the deliberate subversion of rom-com expectations tonally confusing. Shot on location in New York and Finland, the story uses the city's architecture of wealth to underscore its class commentary.

Song's script digs into the commodification of love in the age of dating apps and algorithmic matchmaking. Lucy's clients, a parade of wealthy New Yorkers, treat romance as a transaction, and her own low salary despite serving the elite highlights the irony of her position. The film's title is a provocation: we are all materialists in matters of the heart, weighing tangible benefits against intangible feelings. As the plot builds toward its climax, Lucy must decide between the rational path she has built her identity around and the chaotic pull of her past. The film refuses easy answers, offering a philosophical meditation on whether love can be engineered at all. [edit]

Lucy (Dakota Johnson) runs a boutique matchmaking service in Manhattan, catering to wealthy professionals who treat love as a data-driven exercise. Her own relationship with John (Chris Evans) seems perfect on paper: he's handsome, dependable, and financially secure, the kind of partner she would recommend to any client. But when Harry (Pedro Pascal), her passionate and unpredictable ex-boyfriend, reappears, Lucy's carefully ordered world begins to crack.

The film follows Lucy as she juggles her thriving practice, her comfortable relationship with John, and the resurfacing of old feelings for Harry. Her clients, including Sophie (Zoë Winters) and Violet (Marin Ireland), mirror the transactional nature of modern dating, and Lucy's own low salary despite serving the ultra-rich highlights the economic precarity beneath her polished surface. As she navigates between two very different men, Lucy is forced to confront her beliefs about love, class, and self-worth.

Song uses New York City's luxury hotels and upscale apartments as visual shorthand for the materialist world Lucy inhabits, with key scenes shot at the Lotte New York Palace. The story also ventures to Finland, adding an international dimension to her journey. Throughout, the film balances romantic comedy conventions with thorny examinations of class differences and the way capitalism has infiltrated even our most intimate decisions. The narrative builds toward a climax where Lucy must choose between the safe, stable future John represents and the unpredictable, emotionally volatile connection she shares with Harry.

Supporting performances from Dasha Nekrasova as Daisy, Emmy Wheeler as Rose, and Louisa Jacobson as Charlotte add texture to Lucy's world, while John Magaro voices the unseen Mark P. The film's title is a provocation, suggesting that all of us weigh tangible benefits against intangible feelings in matters of the heart. As the story unfolds, Lucy's professional philosophy begins to crumble, and she must decide whether to follow the rational path or risk everything for a love that defies logic.[edit]