Fingernails (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Anna and Ryan have found true love, and it’s proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem, as Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir.

My Take – In recent years, the romance genre has been getting quite pinched up with elements of science fiction in order to provide a dark perspective on relationships, particularly in the digital world which has indeed affected the ability of adults to find their significant other.

However, this English-language debut of Greek director Christos Nikou (Apples) runs much deeper than the surface level of dating in the modern world.

His conceptual sci-fi romance co-written with Stavros Raptis and Sam Steiner, asks questions like what would you do if a test determined that you and your partner were completely 100% in love? Would you sit back, content in the relationship you’ve already built? Or would you keep working at it? While poking a bit of skepticism in that direction.

Cut from the same cloth as filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ absurdist romance The Lobster (2015), the story offers an interesting concept on the ideas of romance and connection, but while it does have some poignant themes to explore, unfortunately, the narrative doesn’t really take full advantage of the creativity it could have taken, never rising to the occasion to interrogate with any particular depth. Instead choosing on an all-too predictable route, albeit one that’s enjoyable enough thanks to three strong lead performances and some charming moments.

Set in a world where pseudo-science has fueled the development of technology that claims to be able to determine with 100% accuracy whether two people are genuinely in love, with the last step in the process revolving around the extraction of fingernails as samples to be submitted.

Though a vast majority of couples test negative, but those lucky positive couples end up enjoying societal benefits like discounts at restaurants, along with the comfort of knowing they were meant to be together.

The story follows Anna (Jessie Buckley), a teacher who is in a committed if unexciting relationship with Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) that has been certified by the Love Institute. But despite the positive test results, in an effort to understand her feelings, or lack thereof, Anna secrets takes up a job at the controversial Love Institute run by Duncan (Luke Wilson).

But there, something resolutely unscientific makes things tricky for Anna as she finds herself falling for Amir (Riz Ahmed), the sensitive co-worker who has lots of novel ideas about coaching and refining love relationships. Inevitably forcing Anna to question how far science and love can really go.

Without a doubt, director Nikou does have a unique futuristic lens for this romance and leans on dark humor to tell this love story. The wryly amusing moments occur once Anna and Amir begin working with new couples, crafting ridiculous scenarios to increase their intimacy – including staging a fake fire in a film theater to see how they will react. Whereas other low-key sci-fi dramas take their central premise deathly seriously, this one invites the audience to chuckle at it. With its jokes expressed as deadpan as possible and its characters awash in spiritual melancholy.

The film’s obvious influences are apparent, considering director Christos Nikou starting off as a protégé of filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. But then the path the film ends up taking proves disappointingly straightforward. It’s a good premise, but it isn’t handled in any kind of deep and meaningful way, instead wielded as a ‘high concept’ backdrop to an otherwise fairly drawn-out tale of relationship doubts.

Here, director Nikou devotes so much time to laying out the minutiae of the test’s rules that it becomes slightly distracting, only succeeding in opening up further questions. Even the connection between Amir and Anna feels entirely too familiar and frankly, too underdeveloped. There’s little effort to talk through and acknowledge relationship issues after a positive test, or the loneliness negative test after negative test can provoke.

Instead, the film suggests that finding a shiny new person, perhaps even projecting your own romantic ideals onto them, is the best solution to your relationship woes. It’s a frustrating approach to a genuinely interesting sci-fi concept, one that simply scratches the surface of its own potential instead of digging deeper. What does work are the performances from the trio of actors.

Few men can better portray emotional un-intelligence than Jeremy Allen White. As Anna’s disengaged boyfriend, White strikes a nice balance as someone who clearly loves Anna but has grown too comfortable with their dull routine. Jessie Buckley sells her confused feelings hard, and while the sharing excellent chemistry with Riz Ahmed whose presence is so magnetic that we forget about the film’s flaws every time he is on screen.

In smaller roles, Luke Wilson, Christian Meer, Amanda Arcuri and Annie Murphy are decent enough. On the whole, ‘Fingernails’ is a well concepted sci-fi romance that fumbles its own potential despite committed performances from its leads.