How many people will go along to this new film by Céline Song (Past Lives) after seeing the winsome social media promos by stars Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans and expect a standard romcom?

Maybe I was one of those people. I didn’t actually think a lot about this film before I went to see it, drawn as much by Johnson and Pascal as by a genuine interest to see what Song would come up with next after the languid and introspective Past Lives.

In some ways it’s exactly as it should be. It has all of the existential angst and lyrical slow beauty of her first film, but this time is set in the world of dating and matchmaking.

Starting rather oddly with a cheesy moment of Neanderthal love, we are quickly immersed in the life of Lucy (Johnson), a 30 something very successful matchmaker who has an instinct for matching people together. She works for a company where they celebrate the rarity of couples they have matched getting married like a win in the stock exchange.

The heart of the story is the fact that Lucy is a proud materialist. She has learned that in love, she needs a comfortable life and is unapologetic about the maths of finding a partner. It’s about height and weight and age and fitness and bank account and income and profession. You just find the numbers and do the sums and every now and again it works out into something that is satisfying.

Of course we know this is going to be tested because in the world of romantic comedies, it is love that wins out not materialism or intellect or pragmatism. For Lucy, the conundrum comes when she meets a unicorn, their company slang term for a person who ticks all the boxes. This one is played by Pedro Pascal and he has just the right amount of rogueish charm to make you believe in his status.

The other corner of the triangle is almost laughably, stereotypically, the opposite – ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans), struggling out of work actor, taking bit jobs in hospitality and performing in plays that no one sees.

In Song’s hands, this becomes more than a story of fate or manners or mistakes that are rectified. Full of long dialogue scenes, existential ruminations and lessons learned, it feels like a play and shows Song’s substantial theatre pedigree. I can imagine those expecting a romcom will find it slow and ponderous without enough kissing.

It wouldn’t have worked quite so well without someone like Johnson in the lead. I can’t quite put my finger on why she works so well. She’s strikingly gorgeous and is believable as someone who is supremely confident in her value and also someone who is essentially fragile. The camera is on her a lot and it felt like we couldn’t get enough of her.

I don’t know if it is my personal bias against Chris Evans, but I struggled a bit with his personification of his character. I’m not sure if it was that he was largely unlikable or there wasn’t a whole lot of chemistry between him and Johnson, but I didn’t quite buy him as a legitimate alternative for Lucy. I think I would’ve enjoyed the story more if his character had been female and we could see the push and pull of the choices Lucy has to make as something beyond the purely materialistic.

Many people left during the closing credits which was a shame as, along with a gorgeous Japanese Breakfast song, there is a beautiful scene playing out in real time as the credits roll that is worth staying for.