Cinemagoers tutted – but in Materialists, I finally saw a true reflection of today’s dating market | Elle Hunt

The brutal reality is that if you don't come from money, the best way to boost your finances is through a relationship

On Sunday I took myself, with a slight hangover, to see a preview screening of Materialists, the long-awaited new film by Celine Song. Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a matchmaker with a talent for pairing her exacting clients with someone who ticks most of their boxes and is also likely to accept them. She is less cupid, more market analyst - capable of seeing through her singletons' self-serving bluster and spin to appraise their actual worth - then matching it with someone of equivalent value.

A thirtysomething woman of only average good looks, for instance, can't hope to land a unicorn" - a 6ft-tall high earner with his original hairline. Unicorns want to date twentysomethings - and they can get them, too.

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist

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