Exclusive | Celine Song Breaks Down The ‘Materialists' Ending, That Height-Enhancing Surgery, and More

In Materialists, Celine Song’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Past Lives, the machinery of romance meets the messiness of real emotion. The film, already sparking sharp debate online, stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a high-end Manhattan matchmaker caught between the algorithmic neatness of compatibility and the irrational pull of desire. With Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal completing an unlikely but magnetic triangle, Song’s second feature isn’t quite a rom-com — it’s a romantic inquiry, a provocation, a wry elegy for love in the time of transactions.

Materialists plants itself firmly in the now, with its luxury apartments and surgically enhanced aspirations. Some have seen cynicism in its glittering surfaces and sharply drawn power plays. But Song insists otherwise. For her, the heartbreak is real — and so is the hope.  

From somewhere in Paris, Song speaks to The Hollywood Reporter India and reflects on the emotional cost of modern dating and why she stands firmly behind Lucy and John’s ending.

Edited excerpts from a conversation: 

THR: Materialists really hit a nerve and has been at the receiving end of a lot of passionate and polarising Internet discourse. Did you anticipate this, and as a storyteller, do you welcome it?

Celine Song: Yes, I did anticipate this, and I welcome it. This film did hit a nerve, and as an artist, what interests me most is talking about that ‘real thing’. I think it’s great that everyone wants to talk about it, and their response is helping me learn so much about them; on how they feel, how they value their heart, their own selves and what they believe about love. It’s amazing that my movie gets to reveal that.

THR: Your filmmaking has an exquisite patience — hugs stretch a few seconds longer, eye contact lingers, silences aren’t afraid to settle. Where others might cut away, you hold. What draws you to the art of lingering?

CS: I think it’s really about storytelling in an ‘everyday’ way. So much of the lingering is the longing behind that interaction. Cinema is an opportunity where we get to depict many different kinds of connections between people, [and I love] doing that at the pace that I like to set.

THR: Aren't you afraid of this generation’s short attention span?

CS: No, I am not afraid of that. What I am afraid of is people being afraid of making things [that require more attention]. If I’m not challenging it, and other filmmakers aren't challenging it, then we’re going to have to accept that this is how things are going to be.

THR: Talk to us about the conception of that dinner scene between Harry and Lucy. How did you land on that conversation as the one to shoot in a single take? Was it a technical or emotional decision?

CS: It’s both; part of it has to do with expressing the storytelling through blocking, you want [to represent] these characters and their physical existence, whether they lean in or lean back, or how the environment is set. A large part of the storytelling is the environment. When Lucy says, ‘How expensive the date is determines how romantic it is,’ and Harry replies, ‘Doesn’t it?’ and she turns and we see how the restaurant is huge, beautiful, and obviously expensive, so they’re having this conversation at this very expensive restaurant. The environment has to tell the story. It’s also so helpful [that] the actors are so amazing that they’re able to sit there and do that whole scene.

THR: You tend to return to these social spaces as emotional crucibles, in Past Lives (2023), you used a bar, and in Materialists it was this restaurant. As a director, what do these spaces give you that other locations don't?

CS: I think of the locations as characters, and [the locations I used] are always the right character for the story. Similar to casting, when you’re looking for the right person for the role, when looking for locations, [you find it according to how] it’s described in the script. And then, of course everything from choosing a lens to where to put the camera, all of those things are going to reflect what we love most about that space as a storytelling tool.

THR: Is it anything specific about places of eating and drinking that attracts you, or do you think that it's more conducive to certain kinds of conversations?

CS: I think my favourite conversations are the ones that happened in a restaurant or a bar. I don’t think those are spaces specifically designed [to eat and drink], when you go to a restaurant on a date, the whole idea is you choose a place where you can get to know the other person. I think it’s so much about those places and how noisy they are. But also, throughout the film there are so many places where they can have conversations; [there are scenes where] John and Lucy are having conversations outside of buildings, or in the streets.

THR: The Internet has been buzzing about the ‘leg lengthening/ height enhancing' surgery; how did you first encounter this surgery, and what was it that made it cinematic to you?

CS: Can you believe that that’s real? I find it to be quite heartbreaking that this desire for height in men to feel valuable is so all-encompassing that they’re violent to their own body. I think the cave people would’ve never imagined it. I encountered this through a GQ story, where they said this was one of the fastest growing cosmetic surgeries in existence, more and more men are getting this done everyday. When we talk about the straight dating world, it is very stacked against women; everything from their weight, age, looks; I also wanted to [represent] how men can be affected by this world as well; by this constant drive to turn ourselves into merchandise. A key line in the film is, ‘I’m not a merchandise; I’m a person’. I think it’s heartbreaking that we’re starting to think of ourselves more as merchandise than people.

THR: Romcoms often end with a ‘happily ever after’, but you resist that simplicity. Even though Lucy finds her way to John, there are still problems in their relationship that will continue to persist. After the film, do you think they find a sense of rhythm in their relationship? And what about Harry?

CS: I mean, she received a promotion and he’s promised to be happy with her. I don’t understand why it’s not a fairytale ending. Is the only possible [happily ever after] a $12 million apartment? Because very few people have that. I hope Harry finds someone who is happy to live there; but because they love him for who he is, not for his fairytale apartment. I hope he finds someone who understands and loves him for the heartbreaking decision he made. I want him to believe in that happy ending the way Lucy believes in it. I think it is a fairytale ending to find someone who loves you, who promises to love you forever, not a $12 million apartment.