Materialists is Celine Song’s newest film starring Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a matchmaker in New York City whose views on love and relationships are practical and intellectually driven—she can easily tell who will be a good match for each other based on a list of criteria, and thanks to her skillset, she’s managed to set up nine different couples for marriage. But her time in the industry has left her feeling jaded about romance, and so she’s vowed to stay single or marry rich—after all, after growing up poor, she’s seen the strain financial issues can have on a family.
Enter Harry (Pedro Pascal), an ultra-wealthy bachelor, and John (Chris Evans), Lucy’s ex who lost her after their relationship went south due to financial issues. They both appear in Lucy’s life at around the same time, during one of her clients’ weddings, and it puts her values to the test—does she go with the stable man she doesn’t know well who wants to give her a good life? Or does she return to the man she’s spent her life loving deeply, but who wasn’t able to give her what she believed she deserved in the past?
Materialists is ultimately about love, societal value, and self-worth—and how each of these play a part in modern relationships. Here are the best quotes from the movie:
1.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): I don’t like you because you’re rich.
Harry (Pedro Pascal): Then why do you like me?
Lucy: Because you make me feel valuable.
Harry: You are valuable.
2.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): You’re the same as always.
John (Chris Evans): I was hoping you’d say I was different.
Lucy: Why?
John: Because then I wouldn’t be the guy that lost you.
3.
John (Chris Evans): I’m a beggar for you. When I see your face, I see wrinkles, gray hair, and children that look like you. Can’t help it.
4.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): My client is also on a date right now. I really want her to like this guy. She’s had, like, ten bad dates in a row and I need to deliver.
Harry (Pedro Pascal): Oh, are you feeling guilty that you’re about to go on a good date?
5.
John (Chris Evans): I can’t give you the wedding or the marriage that you want. I couldn’t even give you the relationship you wanted. It’s been years and I still can’t afford to be with you.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): You’re right, you can’t. But just because you can’t afford it doesn’t meant mean it’s worth having. You don’t want me.
6.
Harry (Pedro Pascal): It’s really hard for me to feel like this is not about the legs.
7.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): If the service I was providing you was building a man, of course I could build you a man with everything on this list, but I can’t, because this is not a car or a house. We’re talking about people. People are people are people are people. They come as they are. And all I can hope to find for you is a man you can tolerate for the next fifty years who likes you at all. And you are not a catch! Because you are not a fish.
8.
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): You’ll somehow manage to make a couple of kids, and then you’ll get sick of each other. One of you will cheat on the other, and you’ll fight. At first, not in front of the kids, but then, in front of the kids. And then you resent the kids for seeing you fight. And then you file for divorce, and you fight about who owns what and who gets the kids when until it’s all over.
9.
John (Chris Evans): Why does anyone even get married?
Lucy (Dakota Johnson): Because people tell them they should. Because they’re lonely. And because they’re hopeful.
10.
John (Chris Evans): How would you like to make a very bad financial decision?