Fingernails ending spoilers follow
What does true love look like? Fingernails desperately searches for the answer to that question, but not even the movie's surprising ending provides a clear answer.
Greek director Christos Nikou explores the complexity of relationships through a sci-fi premise involving a scientific love-compatibility test. Using a fingernail of each one of the lovers, the test can determine if a couple is meant to be together.
Obtaining a 100% would be a yes, a 0% would be a no, and a 50% would be a disaster, since that would mean only one-half of the couple is really in love with the other.
The movie follows Anna (The Lost Daughter's Jessie Buckley), a woman who should be happily enjoying her 100% compatible relationship with Ryan (The Bear's Jeremy Allen White), and yet she feels something is missing.
After starting a new job as an instructor in the Love Institute, the place where the love test is performed, she starts developing feelings for her co-worker Amir (The Night Of's Riz Ahmed).
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But could they ever be in love if a machine says otherwise?
We delve into the ambiguous ending of Fingernails, which is out now on Apple TV+.
Fingernails ending explained
Despite having found the perfect match with Ryan, Anna can't deny her growing feelings for Amir, so she decides to put them to the test. Literally.
When Amir rips off one of his fingernails in order to reassure a nervous client, Anna seizes the opportunity to secretly grab it and test it with one of her own fingernails.
The results are even worse than not knowing at all — they get a 50%, which means one of them is in love and the other is not.
The test doesn't specify who is who, but given that she shares a 100% test result with Ryan, it all points to Amir being the only one really in love. This confuses her even further, to the point of asking her boyfriend to retake the test in case their feelings have changed, as she suspects.
Apparently, they have not, since they are still a 100% match. How is it possible?
Watch Fingernails on Apple TV+
Not satisfied at all with what science is clearly telling her, she goes to Amir's apartment, telling Ryan she is getting some soup. Best excuse ever.
Once there, Anna and Amir finally act on their feelings and share an intimate night together. Of course, this only creates even more confusing and contradictory feelings for Anna, who is now questioning the validity of the Love Institute's infamous test.
In the middle of the night, Anna goes into the kitchen and starts pulling off her nails. Amir finds her and stops her from harming herself.
They sit together in silence, unsure of what comes next. And unsure if there's any point in going back to the office now.
First of all, why was Anna removing her fingernails? There could be two reasons.
Anna's actions could symbolise she's willing to take the test as many times as necessary to get to the bottom of her feelings, since she is still a devoted believer of the Love Institute's work. She hopes, perhaps, that one of those tests will tell her what her heart is shouting — she loves Amir.
However, this moment could be seen as an act of rebellion against the test.
If she removes all of her fingernails and throws them out in the trash can, there's no way to perform another test. At least until they grow again, of course. It's like Anna stating she doesn't trust science any more and she's going to follow her instinct from now on.
After all, Amir explained before how he's seen many cases of couples who are perfect for each other, but their relationship unfairly implodes after they get a negative result.
So, what if the test is a scam?
This retrofuturistic society seems to believe in it blindly, making life-changing decisions based on its results. And maybe they shouldn't.
This second interpretation of Fingernails' ending seems to be more in sync with Nikou's perspective.
"I always try to understand why love is so difficult nowadays and has changed so much; how the younger generation are only going through dating apps in order to find the perfect match," explained the filmmaker in an interview at BFI.
"They're swiping right or left with their finger and their nail in order to find the ideal partner. But actually they're letting an algorithm – an AI – suggest things to them," he added.
"I feel that we need something more instinctive, to just follow our heart."
Fingernails is out now on Apple TV+.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
