In the near future, or even in a parallel present, the world appears almost as we know it, except for one detail. Indeed, thanks to a scientific breakthrough, it is now possible to mathematically determine whether the love between two people is real and, if so, complete. Depending on the percentage displayed, couples break up or form. As for people who do not want to know, or who think they know, they live with a nagging doubt while being judged, more or less openly, by people whose love is “certified”.
From this unusual starting point, Christos Nikou, to whom The duty spoke exclusively, shot the as intriguing as it is romantic Fingernails (Love at the tips of your nails).
“Five or six years ago, I was immersed in a lot of reflection, trying to understand love,” confides the filmmaker in the wake of the presentation of Fingernails at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t fall in love. I was then very attentive to the people around me. I saw everyone falling in love, or finally, approaching love in all kinds of ways: with dating apps, through social networks…”
Love in the age of algorithms, in short. Based on this observation, the Greek filmmaker, who displays a certain spiritual kinship with his compatriot Yorgos Lanthimos, imagined this society almost identical to ours, but where love is quantified.
“People are looking for answers to everything, including love. Am I in love? Am I Really ? At what point ? Is there another person out there who is even more compatible with me? The concept of the film was largely born from these classic questions. We want to have certainty, we want proof. The idea of an official certificate proving the authenticity of the love between two people is therefore not that far-fetched. We have, after all, marriage certificates, we have nuptial contracts…”
Indefinable dissatisfaction
One of the many charms of this subtly funny and slightly distressing film lies in its particular tone, which the director defines as follows:
“I tried to establish and maintain a tone that I could illustrate with this image: “melancholic smile”. »
This “melancholy smile” often floats on the lips of Anna, the heroine of Fingernails. Anna and her partner Ryan are among those privileged people with a certificate attesting to the authenticity of their love.
However, Anna has recently been inhabited by a sort of indefinable dissatisfaction. So here she is who, without Ryan’s knowledge, trades her job as a teacher for a position in one of the Institutes of Love. In these heart clinics, a device measures the love percentage from the spouses’ fingernails, hence the title.
Interestingly, said device looks like it comes straight out of the 1970s in design. The retrofuturist approach favored for this vague and insidiously totalitarian era is further reinforced by the absence of smartphones, among other things. Banned technologies… or never having existed.
“I wanted to create a timeless environment, so that you can’t really tell in what year the action takes place precisely. Is it now, or in the future, or in the past? I didn’t want a futuristic vision: I preferred a down-to-earth, familiar approach, with which the public could easily identify,” explains Christos Nikou.
As part of this new job, Anna develops an immediate bond with a colleague, Amir. What if it was something deeper, something stronger? But how is this possible, when Anna knows, with a piece of paper to prove it, that she and Ryan are perfect for each other?
“Anna was there from the beginning: she took shape straight away. As I was building a universe in which certain rules are different from those that govern ours, I wanted the plot to be propelled by an inquisitive character who will come to question these rules. That seems to me to be the most interesting approach, as opposed to a character who only endures the universe in question. »
Understand your heart
Co-produced by Cate Blanchett, Fingernailsstars Jessie Buckley, seen in I’m Thinking of Ending Things (I just want to end it) And Tea Lost Daughter (The stolen doll, in a younger version of Olivia Colman), in the role of Anna. The always formidable actress here plays opposite two other excellent performers: Jeremy Allen White, from the popular series The Bearin the role of contented Ryan, and Riz Ahmed, unforgettable in Sound of Metal (The sound of silence), in that of the troubled Amir.
Because Anna’s approach, which resembles an intimate investigation, will obviously have repercussions on Amir’s existence as much as on Ryan’s. By continuing her professional and personal exploration to the end, Anna will be better able to define, and resolve, this latent unfulfillment to which she is prey.
“Anna will end up understanding her own heart,” summarizes the director.
And what about his heart? Did going to the end of his exploration, cinematic in his case, help Christos Nikou to understand why he couldn’t fall in love? After a thoughtful silence, the filmmaker responds:
” I am still searching. I don’t think I have a better understanding of the mysteries of love, but I do think I know more about what I want. »
The film Fingernails hit theaters on October 27, then releases on Apple TV+ on November 3.