This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.Director Christos Nikou got his start as a second assistant director for Yorgos Lanthimos on his deeply unsettling and strange 2009 film, Dogtooth—a work that took an odd concept and fleshed it out to a fascinating degree, exploring all the angles of this twisted world that it created. With his English-language debut, Fingernails, Nikou (along with co-screenwriters Sam Steiner and Stavros Raptis), takes an idea that seems ripe for a Lanthimos-esque approach, melding uncomfortable concepts with insights into love, and instead, creates a film that is too surface-level, too obvious, and just not compelling enough given the excellent notion at the center of this story.

What Is ‘Fingernails’ About?
Image via Apple TV+

Fingernails is set in a near future where any uncertainty about finding true love has disappeared. Thanks to a new technology, a couple can rip off one of their fingernails, put it into a machine that looks like a microwave, and a dated computer will tell them if there is 0% love between them, 100% love, or 50%—meaning only one of them is truly in love. Jessie Buckley stars as Anna, who takes a job at a love training institute from the company that created the test, which attempts to boost numbers for couples before their test through different activities, like trying to find a partner via scent, or skydiving together. Anna has taken the test with her longtime partner Ryan (Jeremy Allen White), and the pair received a 100% connection. But upon starting her job at the institute and meeting her trainer Amir (Riz Ahmed), both Anna and Amir start to wonder if they could have something between them as well.

In this world, divorce rates have plummeted, as people have blindly trusted this test, created by the founder of the love institute, Duncan (Luke Wilson). Couples routinely break up immediately after getting negative results, almost as if they don’t want to waste their time with something that isn’t a sure thing. While the audience will almost immediately question why the entire world would trust this microwave/TV hybrid made by Luke Wilson, it takes about two hours for our leads in Fingernails to come to the same conclusion. While not nearly as exhausting as this year’s The Pod Generation, both that film and Fingernails choose the unfortunate technique of taking an intriguing idea and crafting an obvious, disappointingly generic narrative around said idea.

‘Fingernails’ Is Sci-Fi and Romance, but Struggles With Both
Image via Apple TV+

Fingernails is also a pseudo-sci-fi film mixed with a romance and doesn’t quite excel at either. Again, the world and science behind this idea are disappointingly minimized, and given the importance of this test on so many people in this world, it’s somewhat regrettable the shallow way Nikou, Steiner, and Raptis explore this world. Nikou’s look at this world is intentionally drab in its own way, but still compelling visually, and this sort of muted aesthetic also feels like part of the love story as well. The relationship between Anna and Ryan is understandably lackluster, as we can occasionally see the flickers of love in a bond that has already seen its best days. But even between Anna and Amir, beyond some longing looks and clear attraction, their story doesn’t have quite the pull that a story like this needs. If anything, Fingernails might drag out the obvious will-they-won’t-they of the film out for too long, as it seems to just start getting good as the end credits begin to roll—another key commonality between films like this that tend to end before they have to start answering the big questions.

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But despite all of this, the cast here is enjoyable to watch, and especially as the bond between Anna and Amir starts to grow, it does eventually get to be charming to watch these two circle each other in their way. Buckley and Ahmed—especially near the end—are solid at showing the little flutterings from the beginnings of love. Even if it’s not spoken, we can feel this connection get stronger the more they work together, although it could certainly be stronger throughout. It’s also fun to watch this cast in this world where it seems the lack of confusion over love has taken some of the life out of life. Despite creating maybe one of the most important technologies in human history, Luke Wilson’s Duncan works at a retro office, with a door that’s always open, and is able to take photos of every successful couple. Jeremy Allen White is decent in a role that doesn’t demand much of him, but we get both why Anna would be in love with him and also how she could be falling out of love with him. Also wonderful in a small role is Annie Murphy as Amir’s girlfriend, Natasha. Murphy only gets one scene, and again, it’s hard to not wish for more from her.

However, it’s hard not to watch Fingernails and both see the potential this story had, but also, the promise in Nikou as a filmmaker. In addition to working with Lanthimos, Nikou was also an assistant director for Richard Linklater on Before Midnight, and his last film, Apples, led Cate Blanchett to sign on as a producer for Fingernails. There are glimmers throughout Fingernails of Nikou’s excellence as a filmmaker, from crafting a world that is both attractive and mundane at the same time, and a screenplay that all too briefly shows the beauty within the uncertainty of love. There are great ideas throughout Fingernails and strong filmmaker instincts, but it also feels like a film that should’ve gone just a bit deeper into this world, its love, and its ideas.

Fingernails isn’t so much a disappointment, but rather, a film that feels like a filmmaker still coming into his own. There’s a great film coming from Nikou in the future and that can be felt throughout Fingernails. Unfortunately, that film isn’t Fingernails.

Rating: B-

The Big Picture

Director Christos Nikou’s English-language debut film, Fingernails, fails to live up to the potential of its intriguing concept and instead delivers a surface-level, generic narrative. The film explores a near future where a new technology can determine the compatibility of couples by analyzing their ripped-off fingernails, but fails to delve deeper into the world and science behind this idea. Despite its shortcomings, Fingernails features an enjoyable cast and moments of charm, but overall lacks the depth and exploration needed to fully realize its themes of love and uncertainty.

Fingernails had its international premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Fingernails will have a theatrical release on October 27, and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ starting on November 3.