After cutting Celine Song’s first two films, “Past Lives” and “Materialists,” editor Keith Fraase has a clearer understanding of the director’s take on love and relationships, what our value is as people, and the different paths we can take in our lives. “All of these ideas are coming from Celine’s brilliant mind, so of course her films are in conversation with each other,” Fraase told Indiewire.
“What was immediately most striking to me about ‘Materialists’ was the deep dive into the notion of capitalism and consumerism infecting the dating scene,” he continued. “Breaking yourself down into these component parts of height and income and attractiveness and style so simplifies each other’s humanity. We’re devaluing ourselves and our potential partners. Obviously, it’s something we live in day-to-day life and you see it all around you. But I think there’s something telling about Celine pointing it out and saying, ‘Look.’”
In “Materialists,” Lucy (Dakota Johnson) works at a high-end Manhattan matchmaking agency, matching wealthy professionals with cold, calculated precision. But Lucy finds herself torn between millionaire Harry (Pedro Pascal), a unicorn who checks all her boxes, and devoted ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), a broke waiter and struggling stage actor. She also reevaluates her brutal profession and worldview after longtime client Sophie (Zoe Winters) is assaulted on a first date and sues the agency.
Balancing light and dark, however, isn’t something Fraase and Song are editorially concerned about. Nor are they categorizing the film as a romcom or a drama. The tone grows organically out of character and situation. “A lot of times, we’re not focusing on what’s funny, or what’s supposed to make you cry,” he said. “We’re just trying to make sure that the moment is true and honest and real, and that we’re serving the characters in the best way possible. We’re serving the performances in the best way possible.”
“When cutting any comedy, I can do everything with a light touch, but specifically with Celine’s writing, it’s like Shakespeare in theater: you don’t want to over-execute the lines. It’s meant to be easy. There’s a certain poetic, intellectual intelligence that you just let be.”
As part of his preparation, Song provided Fraase with a list of 24 films that had influenced “materialists.” Dominated, of course, by Jane Austen adaptations. “We’ve done the same thing in past lives,” he added. “It was important that we watched the same films that had similar vocabulary that we could discuss with each other in the cutting room. It’s so important to get on the same page.”
O editor ficou particularmente impressionado com o “senso e sensibilidade” de Ang Lee, que ele nunca tinha visto antes. “Isso me surpreendeu e acabou de subir no topo da lista como um dos maiores e provavelmente minha adaptação favorita Jane Austen”, disse ele. “Tudo é sobre classe e dinheiro e a troca de mercadorias, assim como ‘os materialistas’. Mas o que acontece se o status da classe ainda for realmente um aspecto importante da cena de namoro em Manhattan? A riqueza pode resolver muitos problemas.
A música até subverte nossas expectativas abrindo “materialistas” com um engajamento ritualístico entre um homem das cavernas e uma mulher de caverna, que o editor achou muito ousado quando leu o roteiro pela primeira vez. “Adoro ser inesperado”, disse Fraase. “Desde o início dos tempos, os humanos começaram a acoplar, e era muito importante para nós realmente mostrar na cena inicial. Ele traz para ela um saco de ferramentas e lhe dá flores. São presentes. Mesmo no início dos tempos, essa transação está ocorrendo”.
O filme é construído crucialmente em torno de dois casamentos: o primeiro quando Lucy e Harry se encontram fofos na recepção do casamento de seu irmão que ela organizou, o que é interrompido por uma reunião casual com John; O segundo em que Lucy e John batem um casamento no norte de Nova York após seu rompimento com Harry.
“Harry foi apresentado pela primeira vez onde ele chega e você recebe um pouco mais de informações sobre ele com seu irmão, conversando sobre o divórcio”, disse Fraase. “E percebemos que era melhor apenas apresentar Harry em seu elemento. Você o vê vestido para os nove imediatamente, cumprimentando as pessoas. Isso chegou direto ao ponto e foi muito eficiente. É assim que Celine gosta de cortar as coisas, com uma mão hábil”.
Primeiro, Harry testemunha Lucy de Afar conversando com algumas mulheres sobre namoro e demonstrando suas proezas de matchmaking. Ele está intrigado. Na recepção, ele se senta ao lado dela na mesa de singles e a elogia em suas habilidades de matchmaking. No entanto, em vez de contratá -la, ele quer namorar. Ela imediatamente coloca sua armadura, mas ele a encanta para considerar a oferta.
“Então, estamos indo e voltando entre esses singles em Lucy e Harry, tentando segurar cada um o maior tempo possível”, acrescentou Fraase. “ The key with Celine’s movies is we try to cut as little as possible. So you’re left wondering what the reaction is. What is Harry thinking? And then John comes in as this waiter with coke and beer, and we’re shocked. It’s a drink that no one would ever order, and there’s no way for anyone to know that this is her drink. So that breaks frame and interrupts their repartee, and we finally get this three-shot, and we just hang on it. The discomfort for both Lucy e Harry. ”
Past and present collide for Lucy as she encounters John, who drives her wedding home in the same “clunky” car he was dating a decade ago. Cut to a flashback of fighting in the car over the cost of parking, which leads to a breakdown over his inability to pay for it.
“This is the one scene where we wanted to have the cut much faster,” Fraase said. “I want to make it a discussion. The first cut I did in that scene was much slower. Let everyone finish their lines. And we were like, no, it has to feel like a discussion. You’re not going to get all the lines. We kept working on it until it got a little more frenetic. The pacing is much more staccato than anything in the movie.”
In the outdoor third act, Lucy and John enjoy a brief romantic interlude amidst the beauty of nature. They are intoxicated but uncertain about getting back together because of their love versus luxury dilemma. “One of my favorite lines in the entire film is when John asks if they will always be passengers in a marriage,” Fraase added. “It’s so devastating to me, that feeling of being an observer of someone else’s happiness.”
“The first time we ever met on the film,” he continued, “Celine had a whole playlist of musical themes that she felt represented these three characters, and the one she played for John was ‘Skating in Central Park’ by Bill Evans. It’s so ethereal and floaty. The movie needs to open up, like it feels whenever you’re leaving the city. Celine wanted the movie to slow down, take its time, linger. We don’t lose sight of Lucy’s cynicism at the wedding when She is watching these two lovely people.
The climax comes down to John’s proposal of unconditional love and Lucy’s surrender. But the ending is ambiguous. Although she is hired by the returning caveman and woman and John presents Lucy with his tender flower ring, there is a proposal to run the New York departures office hanging over her. We are back to the uneasy balance of social status.
“What I loved about working on this film is the combination of cynicism and romanticism,” Fraase said. “Trying to reconcile those two is not mutually exclusive. They play off each other in interesting ways.”
