For ages, matchmaking has been a community practice done without pay, but its nature has shifted over time. An increasing number of my dating clients are asking for my thoughts on matchmaking or telling me about their own experiences with matchmaking services. One client even received a LinkedIn message from a matchmaker promising to find her “perfect match.” This growing interest in matchmaking is partly fueled by popular shows like Million Dollar Matchmaker, Jewish Matchmaking, Indian Matchmaking, and Muslim Matchmaker. These programs highlight how matchmakers can assist people in finding lasting relationships within specific cultures and the advantages of letting someone else guide the process.
Celine Song’s new film, Materialists, arrives at a particularly relevant moment. As people reflect on their relationships with matchmakers and the dating landscape, the movie reveals the darker aspects of the matchmaking world. (Spoilers ahead!) Materialists effectively uses matchmaking to illustrate how modern dating has become a dehumanizing and often unfair arena that favors the wealthy.
Throughout the film, we see hopeful clients openly express their ageist, classist, racist, and fatphobic desires for partners, while Lucy, the matchmaker played by Dakota Johnson, listens attentively and empathetically. However, her career is disrupted when one of her clients, Sophie, is sexually assaulted by a man Lucy matched her with—a man whose credentials turn out to be fabricated.
At a client’s wedding, Lucy tells Harry (Pedro Pascal), a potential love interest and the groom’s brother, that being a matchmaker is similar to being a mortician or insurance adjuster because it focuses on statistics like height, weight, race, and income. She reduces her matchmaking approach to “math” and applies this to her own dating life. Harry, who is aggressively pursuing Lucy, is tall, successful, and extremely wealthy. Lucy reveals that she earns $80,000 and that he could find someone “better.” He responds that he has plenty of material wealth and is more interested in her intangible qualities.
The desire for romantic and financial stability is a recurring theme in the film, creating a sense of tension. However, as I left the theater, I overheard a group of women describing the movie as “so cute.” On the surface, the plot is a simple romance. A girl meets a rich boy, but also reconnects with her broke ex-boyfriend, John (Chris Evans), and ultimately decides that love is more important than money. Yet, much of the film reflects the harsh realities of modern dating, from discussions about someone’s worth in the dating market to explicitly stating the qualities that make certain daters more desirable: high income and being at least six feet tall. It seems that everyone wants someone “fit,” and the clientele in the movie are primarily white and heterosexual.
This depiction of extreme dealbreakers, while often shocking, is not far from reality. Song, who used to be a matchmaker, skillfully portrays the complexities of dating and the challenge of creating seemingly impossible matches. Lucy is detached and calculating, assessing her clients’ potential in various markets. This mirrors the calculations I see my clients making as they try to assess their chances on dating apps, a process that can be demoralizing if you don’t become used to it.
All of this focus on numbers, statistics, and finding the best “value” completely overshadows the search for genuine love. In fact, the word “love” is used sparingly in a movie about love. Instead, the audience sees the numerous reasons why people choose partners other than for love: to make a sibling jealous, to have children, to please their parents. Lucy initially pitches her service by saying people should look for a “nursing home buddy,” but that’s just a marketing tactic. Once clients are invested and paying a premium, they expect a worthwhile return.
Materialists doesn’t have a conventional happy ending, although it concludes with a wedding. Even though Lucy has chosen John, and the financial uncertainty that comes with him, Song may want us to feel that she hasn’t fully resolved her issues. As the couple waits their turn at a busy City Hall Wedding Bureau during the end credits, there’s a sense of anxiety about whether their relationship will last, since Lucy’s materialism drove them apart before.
Throughout the movie, Lucy argues that marriage is and always has been a business arrangement. Are we to believe that she has made a poor business decision? We are also left wondering if Lucy will accept a promotion at the matchmaking agency or leave the industry altogether. All of this uncertainty—about Lucy’s morals, her standards, her belief in love—is what viewers must grapple with. It mirrors the situation of anyone trying to find what they’re looking for in dating in the current economic climate. Even in the best business deals, the numbers don’t always add up.
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