Todd Haynes is a filmmaker's filmmaker, an artist who makes not just movies, but cinema. From award-winning period pieces (Carol, Far From Heaven) to acclaimed documentaries (The Velvet Underground, Six by Sondheim), his work is always highly anticipated and usually delivers. His latest, written by Samy Burch, is no exception. May December stars Julianne Moore as Gracie, a one-time teacher who, 20 years ago, had an illicit affair with her now husband, and Natalie Portman as Elizabeth, the actor cast to play Gracie in a soon-to-be-made movie about that scandalous time. In a provocative and not always flattering way, May December is an unexpected take on a familiar tabloid tale, checking in with a fragile and fractured family decades after the dramatic events and ultimately curious about how average people heal (or don't) from such drama.
Charles Melton is Joe, Gracie's husband and father to her three youngest children; he's also the boy she had an affair with when he was in seventh grade, as Elizabeth's research into the role reveals through archival headlines and tabloid cover stories. Were this simply a rehashing of a Mary Kay Letourneau-esque story, May December would be a much different (and more boring) film. That it takes place nearly a generation after the affair started makes it something much more fascinating, as both Gracie and Joe seem to wake up to their respective realities after years of pushing forward through the naysayers and criminal charges.
As an acclaimed actor known for a popular (fictional) show, Elizabeth is a jolt of Hollywood into the family's life, as they are at first starstruck by her presence. But after some insisting and time, they begin to treat her as more of a friend of the family, someone curious about their lives and the family dynamic (and how Gracie puts on her everyday make-up) but not someone to put on airs around. This narrative construct works well for the film, as we learn just as much as Elizabeth does through Gracie, Joe and their children recalling their shared history.
As much as the film is about Gracie's predatory relationship with Joe (and the mental gymnastics each of them is willing to do to justify it), it's also a commentary on female relationships, the "May / December" of the title just as easiliy applying to current-day Gracie and the much-younger Elizabeth, primed to play her during her 20s and 30s. Both Portman and Moore are at the top of their very-well-crafted game here, two utter professionals engaging each other to elevate every scene they share. From Gracie's barely hidden disdain at Elizabeth's fresh face and fame to Elizabeth's slow descent directly into the family's drama, both actors create women who have complicated and deep inner lives.
Most of May December takes place at Gracie and Joe's shared family home on an island off the coast of Savannah, where they can be essentially isolated from prying eyes and raise their children, two of whom are about to graduate high school, in relative peace. That doesn't prevent fissures from forming within their little bubble, as Elizabeth interviews Gracie's first husband, Aaron (Chris Tenzis) and her grown children with him who now have children of their own. It's a messy web, and one that, through Elizabeth, we discover is even more dysfunctional than we first thought. As the men in Gracie's life, Melton and Tenzis are spot on, as well; Joe, at just 36 years old, is just beginning to realize the life he's missed out on, while Aaron is desperate to write off anything ever having to do with Gracie.
In his narrative films, Haynes often displays a nuanced touch with women's stories (working with female screenwriters helps), one of a few male filmmakers who has the ability to not only sufficiently decipher the female psyche but interpret for audiences, too. Here, his two main characters provide twice as much opportunity to plunge the depths of human emotion and complex histories, and he does so in heartbreaking, fascinating ways.
May December is now playing at Landmark Century Centre Cinema, and streams on Netflix starting December 1.
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