The opening credits of The Perfect Find are straight out of a fashion fever dream. Set to the Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday classic “You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart,” the sequence — which you can watch above only on Tudum — is an animated collage blending New York City, magazine covers and old Hollywood as it introduces you to Gabrielle Union’s glamorous “It” girl, Jenna Jones.
“I have a big love for vintage Black glamour [and] vintage Black Hollywood,” director Numa Perrier tells Tudum about anchoring the film in nostalgic rom-com aesthetics. “Jenna is a fan of classic films, so I was really intentional about wanting to bring those films into our film.”
And indeed, Jenna’s life seems especially charmed as we witness her meteoric rise as half of the mythical power couple known as “BriJenna” alongside real estate mogul Brian (D.B. Woodside). But the illusion shatters when their breakup hits the tabloids, causing Jenna’s life to spiral out of control. By the time the credits roll, she’s been living with her parents for over a year, hiding from the shame of having lost everything she worked so hard to build.
“Jenna is at a point in her life where she’s hiding from herself, her friends, her career [and] her last relationship,” Union tells Tudum. “The only people she really allows to truly see her at her most vulnerable are her parents. So throughout the film, we see her basically turn her vulnerabilities into her superpowers and freely claim the life that she wants and deserves.”
We start to see this transformation as Jenna returns to New York for a new chapter, emerging wide-eyed from Penn Station, painting her apartment and, finally, walking confidently into a tasteful lobby — only to be confronted by a very intimidating presence: Gina Torres as Jenna’s former professional rival, Darcy Hill.
“Darcy’s complicated, bless her heart,” Torres tells Tudum. “She’s at a crossroads in her professional life where she knows she needs to expand her business, and she makes a very interesting decision in terms of bringing [Jenna], her rival of many years, into the fold. That tells you two things about Darcy: She knows what she wants, and she’s a little twisted.”
Can Jenna really start over? Will Darcy help? Tune in on June 23 when The Perfect Find streams on Netflix.
