“Fingernails” is a film about the nature of relationships, yet it seems to know little about them.

The Apple TV+ film imagines a society in which all the cool people in love get tested to make sure that they’re actually in love. It’s pretty rigorous testing.

In what seems like a weeks-long process, couples are put through various scenarios, such as holding their breath underwater and staring at each other for a minute; seeing if a blindfolded person can find their mate in a room full of people by smell; and, in the most ridiculous moment, they skydive together, putting their lives in each other’s hands (“Don’t forget to pull the rip cord!” the instructor says, helpfully).

The moment of truth comes when, after all that, the couple sit in a room together and each person has one of their fingernails removed. The fingernails are then put in a machine that chemically measures whether they are a match.

“We tested positive!” couples will brag to their friends, their fingers in bandages.

“Fingernails” centers on Anna (Jessie Buckley of“Women Talking”and“The Lost Daughter”), who lives with her boyfriend, Ryan (Jeremy Allen White of“The Bear”and“Fremont”). As they have been living together for years, routine has set in, but Ryan is definitely still in love. Anna is too, but she is restless and full of self-doubt.

Curious about the love tests, Anna takes a job at one of the top love institutes and trains as an instructor. Filling out her application in the office, she hears the sound of rain pelting the roof.

“Rain makes people feel romantic,” the worker says.

Fearing what he might think, Anna tells Ryan she took a job at an elementary school. Gonna state the obvious here: Lying to your partner is a major red flag.

Anna’s training instructor is Amir (Riz Ahmed of“Sound of Metal”and“Venom”), who is handsome, gentle and unavailable. The more Anna works there, the more she questions her own relationship.

Moviegoers likely will have many questions. The testing measures whether couples are in love at the moment; what about two or three years from now? Some take the test every few years to make sure they’re in love (the possibility that two people could just know how they feel about each other naturally without a test seems to have not occurred to the filmmakers).

This means, in theory, couples could take the test 10 times. Would those with severe trust issues move on to toenails?

The problem with “Fingernails” is it takes itself too seriously. Co-writer and director Christos Nikou takes a clinical, dramatic approach to such a high-concept, over-the-top and ridiculous premise. He seems so enamored by the concept of the movie that he forgot that the movie was supposed to be about relationships and not the testing.

Perhaps the material might have been better served with a satirical approach. Clearly, Nikou does have a sense of humor. Witness the local art-house movie theater, with the marquee announcing a Hugh Grant retrospective. “No one understands love more,” it boasts.

Certainly he understands it more than the makers of “Fingernails.”

Reach G. Allen Johnson:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com