I bought the Materialists dress
Oops.
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Back in April, I went to New York to interview the film director Celine Song on behalf of SSENSE. Like every other human on earth, I loved her first feature, Past Lives, the ending of which is so perfect that I wanted to stand up and cheer. When her second film got a release date, I knew I needed to figure out a way to cover it — not least of all because A24 was positioning it as a bit of a throwback rom-com, with Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans in the starring roles. That, my friends, is called “Eliza bait.”
Materialists is now out, as is my profile of Celine. My goal with the story was to capture her infectious exuberance. Celine is talkative and energetic, confident in her ideas but also game to hear yours. Speaking with her was a blast. Go read the story for the full experience.
A fun tidbit that didn’t make it into the piece is that Celine decompresses by playing video games. She told me this at the end of our interview, when I off-handedly asked what she does for fun. Enunciating very clearly into my phone’s microphone, she gave me the following list of games she’s been playing recently: Fortnite, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, Crusader Kings III (“so good”), Zenless Zone Zero, Dragon Age (“I quit, it wasn’t right for me”), and Stardew Valley.
Celine has a good time beating up fake people, and she also enjoys the calming experience of building a beautiful digital community. She’ll do some “backseat gaming,” too, watching her husband, Challengers and Queer screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, while he plays Call of Duty. It’s nice to know that Oscar-nominated writer-directors are, to a certain extent, just like us.
I also need to tell you that, while writing this story, I bought the blue dress that Dakota Johnson’s character, Lucy, wears to a wedding early in the film. You may already be familiar with this look, as it features prominently in the movie poster and trailer.
What can I tell you? It was on the RealReal! Heavily discounted! And in my size!!!
Allow me to explain.
This is when I discovered that those flapping sleeve-like wings are meant to be tied in the back, creating a chic, streamlined look. As a pretty flat-chested individual, I’ve always avoided strapless dresses out of the fear that they’ll fall down. But this one appeared to work…
Will ole no-boobs get the dress to a tailor so that the top stays up? Or will this otherwise great item languish in the pile of things she “really has to take to the dry cleaner”??? Find out in the next edition of The Scumbler…
I know that’s a bad likeness of Phoebe Waller-Bridge,
Eliza