The romance rumours have been “effective in grabbing attention”, says film fan Rebecca Greene.
That said, Rebecca feels the display has gone too far, “especially given that the novel the movie is based on is not advertised as a romance at all”.
Ashlee-Rose Brisley, a 29-year-old actress and producer, agrees. “The trouble is, they’re trying to romanticise a dark and toxic story, so that is setting the audience up for a failure,” she says.
“They might walk into this film thinking it’s a light and fluffy romantic film, as they’ve seen it portrayed by the stars, when it’s actually a deeply troubling story.”
While manufactured romance rumours have always been rife in the celebrity world, Ashlee-Rose says the buzz around Elordi and Robbie has “got people’s back up” because “we know they’re not a couple”.
“This is a married woman with a child, so it comes across as very fake,” she tells BBC News.
“I’m totally irritated by the whole ‘we’re soulmates’ thing, I wish they’d just stop it,” says Keedy Perestroika.
“It cheapened the film for me,” agrees Gemma Haynes, while another fan, Nastassja Loots, says it “looks fake and people can see through it”.
Robbie, Elordi and Ackerley did not respond to a request for a comment.
Some fans have been more sympathetic.
“All I see is two people promoting a film and praising each other’s work,” said one Instagram user.
“I think it’s great they like working together,” said another.
For entertainment reporter Indigo Stafford, what we are seeing is “a mixture of both clever PR and method acting”.
“The dramatic declarations of mutual obsession for each other really got the public talking,” she says.
“[But] what saves the whole thing from being sinister is that Margot’s husband is one of the film’s producers! So if he’s not worried, neither should we be.”