When I walked out of the theater after watching Materialists back in July I was left a little dumbfounded by its sharp observations about dating in 2025, yet its unwillingness to challenge the status quo. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead.
In the version of this movie I’ve rewritten in my head, Lucy (Dakota Johnson) ends up alone after realizing neither Harry (Pedro Pascal) or John (Chris Evans) is really the right man for her. She leaves her job at the matchmaking service after dealing with one too many shallow clients looking for love with a laundry list of criteria for their perfect partner in hand; few of them realistic and many of them outrageous. Lucy finds a way to take her bucket list trip to Iceland solo and has a meet-cute with some random guy who also happens to be hiking the same glacier or something. She smiles, he smiles, and the screen fades to black.
The hot topic of debate on the internet over the past couple months has been whether Lucy should have chosen Harry or John and if this story is “broke boy propaganda”. Director, Celine Song, called out critics of her decision for Lucy and John to end up together despite the slightly toxic nature of their former relationship. While I understand what Song is getting at in her frustration with some to see value in a person beyond what they can offer financially, I think viewer’s criticism of John’s character is perfectly valid. On the outside it may make Lucy seem shallow when she admits she hates that John is poor during a flashback of an argument, but I think any woman who has been in her situation knows the anger goes beyond your boyfriend not having money. It’s fair to be mired by John’s inability to look beyond his owns desires and see how his instability affects the other person in the relationship.
I’ve dated a John and I didn’t break up with him just because he didn’t make a lot of money; he couldn’t see how his refusal to adapt his own life within the frame of our relationship and his contentment with life as long as he could have what he wanted made me feel like I was the only person panicking on a sinking ship.
I won’t argue with Celine Song’s intent because this isn’t my film and I can only share my personal interpretation of the art, but Materialists doesn’t scream to me that John is the right person simply because he loves Lucy. Song calls love an “ancient mystery” and by all means it is because it doesn’t follow logic, by nature it’s hard to wrap your head around. As many of us know, at a certain point love isn’t enough. A man can tell you he loves you, but what does that mean if he continually ignores your concerns about your relationship? It doesn’t mean shit.
Materialists deftly handles the messy, materialistic nature of app dating and how it has single handedly turned the act of dating into a numbers game where, as Song says, we have to market and sell ourselves to find a match. We’re all so preoccupied with how much money someone makes, how tall they are, etc. that we’re missing the point, none of those things matter when it comes to the way you feel–which leads me to our other potential match, Harry.
Harry’s only shortcoming (pun intended if you’ve seen this move and I won’t be explaining further) is despite how decent of a guy he is, Lucy comes to realize she is not in love with him. He takes her out on a regular basis, plans her dream trip to Iceland, understands the demands of her job, and is oozing charisma. He is a “unicorn”, the kind of man any woman would kill to have, except Lucy apparently. Harry is right in front of her offering everything she has ever wanted and yet she doesn’t feel that inexplicable draw to him. She wants to be in love and even though the practicality of their relationship is enough for Harry, it isn’t enough for her, despite how comforting she finds their connection.
My takeaway from this is wildly different than many opinions I’ve read out there on the internet when it comes to both of the men presented to Lucy in this film. As we get older and have more experiences where our needs aren’t met, we might find ourselves thinking a companionship built on mutual respect could be enough if we don’t feel that spark with someone. But you deserve that fucking spark. I think that’s where Lucy is coming from when she ends things with Harry. It would be nice to have the stability she is craving with a good man like him, who makes enough money to help her feel secure and takes her traveling to the places she’s always dreamed of. While the prospect is alluring to anyone whose been jilted by dating and past relationship disappointments, is that really enough? I think most people would say no, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who feels otherwise.
I think the boldness of this movie comes from Celine Song presenting Lucy with everything she thinks she wants only to have her realize it’s all superficial. We get to know very little about Harry as an actual person. Leading Lucy back to John was the safe choice, on this point I won’t concede. As a lover of Song’s other film, Past Lives, she has a knack for detail and nuance in telling stories about love and relationships. So, I wonder why this “love conquers all” attitude persists so heavily toward the end of the film while Lucy leans on John for help when her life feels like it’s falling apart. He appears to be in the same place in his life as he was when she left him, broke and struggling to make any move forward. He’s not a bad guy, let’s get that straight, but why all of a sudden does this seem like a non-issue when it was once the biggest point of contention in their relationship?
The lesson here for me is that love alone is not enough, but mutual respect also doesn’t equate to love either. As we’re seeing a shift, specifically in the attitudes of women toward dating, I think the unexpected move here would have been for Lucy to amicably walk away from both men having realized neither can fully meet her needs. She seemed fine on her own before and I have no doubt she would’t be content finding other ways to fill her time that meet her needs and cater to her interests without a man around. Decentering men all together is what’s happening in the real world and I think a lot of us women are better off for it until someone comes along who doesn’t make us feel like we’re competing with everyone else for resources.
Materialists has some hits and misses when it comes to its commentary on love and modern dating, but it was refreshing to watch a move that gets how none of this shit makes sense.
The Rummy Writer 