Cannes: "May December" with Julianne Moore & Natalie Portman
Friday, May 26, 2023 at 11:00PM Elisa Giudici reporting from Cannes
Todd Haynes new feature May December could easily be my favorite movie of this Cannes edition, but it took me two screenings to realize it. May December's most striking trait is its elusiveness. Like its protagonist Gracie (Julianne Moore), it's unapologetic. It's also candid in its campiness but able to turn into a savage experience in its rare moments of truth. I heard someone describethis one as it as Haynes’ Brian De Palma homage. I think it's closer to Paul Verhoeven and his way of never explaining himself, leaving you wondering “Is this intentionally parodical…or is it not?”.
After the title sequence, underlined by a superb rendition of Michel Legrand’s theme from The Go-Between, we follow the Gracie while she prepares food for a barbecue. She's making her statement dessert, upside-down pineapple cake. Her younger partner works outside, lighting up the grill.
Gracie is talking to a friend about the arrival of Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), a Hollywood star who will play her in an upcoming movie. We still don’t know what this amiable yet prissy suburban wife and mother did to deserve a movie. Gracie moves toward the fridge. The camera follows her and closes up on her face while she stares inside the fridge, the most grave expression on her face. Legrand's music returns as subtle as a transition in an old soap opera. Gracie announces, with death in her eyes: “I don’t think we have enough hot dogs". It's hard to explain but this is one of the most iconic scenes of the festival.
Natalie Portman swoon makes her grand entrance with a bottle of white wine and a small package she found at the entrance. The box is full of s-h-i-t, as Gracie reveals.
The first time I screened the movie I wondered if Todd Haynes had lost his senses. He has not. The second time through it's easier to embrace the supreme campiness, and be outright smitten with May December's ironic, parodical character. Haynes progressively wraps scattered ambiguous truths into a movie that's constantly shifting its focus.
In the beginning, May December appears to be following the story of Gracie. She had a forbidden love affair with a 13-year-old boy when she was 36 years old, married, and with a son of the very same age. In the movie Elizabeth the actress is working on, set in the 1990s, Gracie ends up in prison.
May December is set in 2015, when Joe (Charles Melton) is 36 years old, still in love with Gracie, and a father of 3 kids who are now graduating high school. The more the movie goes on, the more it becomes about Joe. As a teenager he was sensible type asked to face responsibilities as an adult who never really grew up and feels lost and trapped. All of the actors are strong but Melton is phenomenalr. At a certain point, he is having a moment of truth in front of one of his sons. Insecure and sensitive, he still reflexively puts others first, saying 'I don’t know if we’re connecting, or if I’m creating a bad memory for you'. It is a heartbreaking scene.
May December shifts from being the story of Gracie - the flawless seductress, naive yet savage - to being the story of Gracie's victim, Joe. And yet the final focus of the movie is Elizabeth, the actress whose presence causes old memories to resurface. It's not a realistic representation of an actor researching an understanding of the subject. Instead it mocks the arrogance with which Hollywood believes it can discover and portray the truth of any situation.
As the film's music and principal photography evoke a soap opera-like world, Portman portrays a parody of her public persona. Elizabeth speaks as if she's in an ASMR video, ultra polished and courteous, yet intrusive She mimics Gracie's voice and gestures, becoming her living double (and Portman can really mimic Moore). Slowly we realize she is not only imitating Gracie: she is a Gracie herself, with an unconscious ability to seduce and win hearts.
At a meeting with an acting class she gives a sensuous talk about shooting a scene on set: am I pretending I’m experiencing pleasure, or am I pretending I’m not experiencing pleasure? Needless to say, this is not at all how actors describe this particular part of their job. But May December is not interested in reality, but a distortion of it, that clarifies how certain people are “not the kind of snakes that bite". There are subtler ways to kill.
Cannes, Todd Haynes
Reader Comments (7)
Is Nathaniel okay?
Todd Haynes puts my ass in the seat!
In a recent interview, Almodóvar suggested one of the two leading actresses for the English project he's shooting in New York this Fall was starring in a Official Competition film at Cannes. While Johansson, Vikander or Wasikowska (I'd kill to see her in an Almodóvar Film) are possibilities, I think it's safe to assume it's either Moore or Portman.
I can't tell from the review if you liked Moore or not.
morganb123 - the prospects of Todd Haynes making another best movie of the year have me quaking. we shall see!
I often find that I prefer Portman when she's wilfully artificial, so this seems like a most enticing prospect. Hard to believe I could be more excited for Natalie Portman than Julianne Moore in a Todd Haynes film, but here we are.
This remains my favourite film I saw at the festival. While I was only in attendance for three days I managed to see 15 titles (13 official competition titles) and May December is the film that has stuck in my head the hardest. I cannot wait to rewatch when it released in cinema as I can't wait to revisit many of my favourite moments. The fridge scene you have referred to in your Cannes coverage is indeed a great clue and set up for how the rest of the film is going to work and deliver.
Haynes truly has done it again and I'm so thrilled as it's been since Carol that I've outrightly enjoyed an entire feature of his. Those anticipating Portman I believe are gonna be satisfied as she is that captivating. I've never seen an actor play investigation and discovery as well as Portman did. Not to spoil anything but there is a scene in which Portman acts out a sexual moment that calls back to Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun for me that I was amazed by. She also has a major scene fully to camera that I was blown away by her ability to mimic.