Fingernails – BFI London Film Festival 2023 (Film Review)

This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn't exist.

Relationships are a tangible part of being human, Fingernails, the latest film from Christos Nikou takes the human element out of the equation in a new future where technology and a number of rigorous tests decide if we are truly a match for our partners. Do we feel we can settle for mundanity or are we in constant need of reinvigoration? This is at the film's core and whether we take the tests and their results seriously.

It is a world not so far apart from ours as it might seem, the same songs are playing on the radio and the houses and cars look the same, but it is an eerie glimpse at a world where romance might be decided by the algorithm and one half of a relationship might be in love but not the other.  It is a satire of much of what we know and expect from modern dating and the first half leans more heavily into the satirical element.

Jessie Buckley's Anna and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are living a cosy, quiet life in the city, Anna has been a teacher. She takes up a job at the Love Institute, one of the areas providing the tests and quickly strikes up a chord with her colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed). From here the film questions whether Anna is settling for the perhaps unexciting prospect of her life with Ryan or something more exciting with Amir. This is despite a 100% match with Ryan.

The leads are the real USP here with Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed a dynamic match on-screen with palpable chemistry. Jeremy Allen White has been a standout in The Bear and it is frustrating that his presence is a tad more peripheral, certainly the smallest role of the three. Even with a lack of screen time, we are still able to get a feel for Anna's frustration and Ryan's disinterest.

What holds it back from being a more powerful commentary on modern love is its second act which never quite pulls together the strands it has been weaving throughout. There is certainly not a dissimilarity with Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, a low-brow Sci-Fi commenting on romance but Fingernails is unsure quite what it is trying to say, is the algorithm wrong? The first half which is more played for laughs and leaning into the quality of its cast means its ultimate ending is frustrating.

Fingernails has an intelligent central premise and is elevated by its leads who all share fantastic chemistry making their relationships believable. Ultimately some of its ideas feel half-baked and without the development required to take this to the next level.

Fingernails will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on November 3rd