TAINTED love

WRITER AND DIRECTOR CELINE SONG, DAKOTA JOHNSON, CHRIS EVANS AND PEDRO PASCAL DISCUSS TRANSACTIONAL ROMANCE IN THEIR LATEST FILM MATERIALISTS. BY LYNN RUSK

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A DECADE ago, when writer and director Celine Song was beginning her career as a playwright in New York, she took up matchmaking as a “day job.”

For the next 10 years, the South Korean-born Canadian filmmaker tried to write about that experience and what it taught her about modern love and dating.

The result of her efforts is Materialists, a romance exploring relationships across the class divide.

Celine's followup to her Oscar-nominated debut Past Lives, the movie tells the story of Lucy, a high-end matchmaker, played by Dakota Johnson, who finds herself torn between her aspiring actor ex-boyfriend, John, played by Chris Evans, and a charming millionaire, Harry, portrayed by Pedro Pascal.

The film explores the transactional nature of modern dating in New York, where Lucy's clients lay out strict non-negotiables for potential partners, ranging from a minimum height of six feet to six-figure salaries, fit physiques, and strong hairlines.

"I think that I learned more about people in those six months than I did in any other part of my life," says the 36-year-old filmmaker, reflecting on her experience as a matchmaker.

"I always knew that I wanted to write something about it and I tried for like 10 years until I figured out how to do it."

Unlike Past Lives, which explores the Korean concept of “inyeon”, the idea that every relationship is predetermined by fate, Materialists examines the commodification of love.

"I wanted to talk about the way that we're being asked to objectify and commodify each other and ourselves, even when it comes to matters of the heart, matters of love," explains Celine.