The metaphor of Fingernails is quite direct: in digital times in which we type instead of write, in which science leads emotion (a paradox, I know), how do we discover love? We already know that the answer will be that the heart is not dictated by algorithms because Artificial Intelligence or technology, in fictional stories, are our antagonists, even if silent. Therefore, in this small romantic production produced by Cate Blanchett and her husband, we once again question how to identify true love.

In a not-too-distant dystopian future, Love can be identified with 100% accuracy through DNA tests. By pulling out a fingernail (another metaphor for the pain of the process), after several compatibility tests, a couple can be sure that they are with the “right person”. The theme is not new, Black Mirror and other series and films used the same scenario (with different results). In director Christos Nikou’s version, we meet Anna (Jessie Buckley) and Ryan (Jeremy White Allen), a young couple who took the test and live happily in a life without scares, expectations, or even passion.

Although the procedure is available without major problems at the Love Institute, not everyone has the courage to take the test, either for fear of the answer or because they trust sensations more than science. Anna believes in both and in the proposal that it is possible to feel and trust, developing some intimacy activities and technological provocations. For example, some activities are painful, such as taking electroshock to feel the pain of the partner’s absence, and almost drowning to feel the sensation of near death without the other person, while intimate baths create the sexual and sensitive connection that a relationship should have. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? So it is.

When Anna starts working at the Institute, these certainties will be put to the test. There she is paired with instructor Amir (Rhiz Ahmed) and the chemistry between them is immediate. Little by little she confronts her beliefs about true love, faced with comparisons between Amir and Ryan, even her boss, Duncan (Luke Wilson) whose apparently happy marriage ended after he tested and saw that he and his wife were not 100% compatible, even if to the naked eye, they were perfect for each other.

I already gave spoilers, but I spared the development so that you can question, as the director does, the use of exact science for a human relationship. Testing genetic compatibility is already a sad reality for some people who pay for it, to have mathematical knowledge of possibilities. Would it be possible to include romance in this account? Cinema and traditional romantics say no, but here’s the small quality subtlety of Fingernails, it’s not the relationship between Amir and Anna that brings the answer, but hers with Ryan.

There is love between them, but there is also miscommunication. They are 100% compatible, but what we see is a zero connection. They don’t like the same things. They don’t want the same things. How can they be made for each other? Could wanting the same thing (true love, certainty of a stable relationship) change the result? Would the routine be impossible to measure as dangerous?

With good and sensitive performances from the main trio it helps. And the use of the song Only You, by Yazoo, seems to be the basis of the story once again. The song, which appears in 13 Reasons Why and The Great, sets the tone for the film as well. For romantics and skeptics, and especially believers in romantic love, the one that no algorithm can calculate.

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