"Marriage is a business deal and it always has been. So says Dakota Johnson's Lucy, an elite Manhattan matchmaker in Celine Song's second feature, Materialists. Lucy may be a modern woman, but her world looks eerily similar to the marriage mart of Jane Austen's day. For Lucy and her clients, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
"Materialists drops us head first into a world where coupling off with a partner is a purely financial endeavour; where foolish notions of love are not merely ignored, but deemed to be irrelevant; where women must choose passion or practicality. If all of this sounds rather archaic or even regressive, that's because it is. And Song knows it. After all, she frequently cites Jane Austen, specifically Pride and Prejudice, as one of her biggest inspirations for the film:"
Materialists centers on Lucy, an elite Manhattan matchmaker who treats marriage as a transactional business and guides clients through a commodified marriage market. The film draws parallels between modern elite matchmaking and Jane Austen's marriage mart, depicting coupling as primarily about economic security. Lucy insists on pragmatic choices, framing options as marrying for wealth or choosing solitude, and rejects romantic fantasies that promise both love and financial rescue. The narrative subverts the Pride and Prejudice fantasy that love will solve practical problems, presenting instead an anti-Pride-and-Prejudice perspective where passion and practicality are mutually exclusive for women.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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