May December, L to R: Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry with Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix
Premiering on the Cannes Film Festival this previous summer season earlier than a brief run in theaters in November, May December is the newest movie from author/director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol) tailored from Samy Burch’s 2020 Black Listed Screenplay.
Editor’s Note: The film is barely obtainable on Netflix within the United States and Canada.
Based partly on the 1997 Mary Kay Letourneau case, the story facilities round a married couple, Gracie & Joe, who reside within the suburbs of Georgia with their twin youngsters. However, their story just isn’t your common romance – Gracie & Joe met & fell in love when Joe was a 13 yr outdated half time pet store worker and Gracie was his mid-30s married employer.
Now, a long time after their felony beginnings, Gracie & Joe’s relationship will likely be beneath the microscope as soon as once more as an unbiased movie will likely be bringing their story to life for the large display. Though cautious and anxious in regards to the venture, Gracie & Joe agree to permit the lead actress who will likely be enjoying Gracie within the film, Elizabeth Berry, to shadow their household and acquire an understanding of how their relationship got here to be. However, as Elizabeth digs deeper and Gracie & Joe’s marriage begins to buckle beneath the strain, the story turns into much less in regards to the sensational previous and extra in regards to the difficult current of a household in disaster.
The script for May December was dropped at Haynes’ consideration by his co-lead actress & producer Natalie Portman, who performs the deeply fraught Elizabeth within the movie. In a Netflix “Inside the Script” featurette, Haynes remarked that the script “evoked the kind of morality and ethics that used to be a much more prevalent part of movies that we all saw.”
Looking for an skilled hand to information us by means of the ethical ambiguity, Haynes turned to his longtime collaborator and celebrated actress Julianne Moore to tackle the position of Gracie. May December marks Haynes & Moore’s fifth movie collectively, together with Moore’s Oscar-nominated efficiency in 2002’s Far From Heaven.
In Gracie and her relationship with Joe, Haynes will get to return to one among his extra acquainted story components: the decay beneath the seemingly excellent life. Mental & bodily sickness rearing its head in Safe. The crumbling marriage and hidden sexual needs in Far From Heaven. The loveless & handy marriage turned ugly in Carol. In May December, Gracie & Joe seem to have a battle-tested marriage that thrives regardless of their previous. Living in a picturesque neighborhood with buddies, household, and careers, they seem to have all of it. However, because the story unfolds, the viewers is slowly made conscious of all of the cracks within the facade. Toxic manipulation and controlling habits stemming from their preliminary relationship dynamic of grownup and little one. Secret relationships & one night time stands. Children solid apart or dwelling within the shadow of the fallacious sort of fame & notoriety. All of this being wiped away or pushed down by the insecure but suffocating puppetry on the command of Gracie.
May December, L to R: Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo with Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry. Cr. François Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix
Enter Elizabeth Berry. A wild card of two minds: a journalistic intuition to seek out the humanity & fact to fulfill her need to painting Gracie pretty & precisely and a extra sociopathic admiration for Gracie’s means to wipe the slate clear day by day, by no means displaying guilt or disgrace within the face of rational proof. Despite Gracie’s makes an attempt to regulate the proceedings, Elizabeth appears to be taking pages from the Gracie playbook as she delves deeper into her character and makes use of her manipulations & lack of empathy to go well with her personal actuality. Though extra refined and fewer confrontational, it wouldn’t shock anybody if Portman drew some inspiration from her Black Swan previous to get into the mindset of her chess match with Moore’s portrayal of Gracie. The considered one other lady interrogating you and turning into you with designs on undermining you and exposing you appears akin in methods to extra thriller-based variations of any such story.
Stuck within the net & crumbling inside on the nexus of this dynamic is Joe; corrupted, exploited, & massaged by Gracie’s affect from the start and beginning to fray on the edges on his means to an entire meltdown. Played completely by the understated Charles Melton (“Riverdale”), Joe is lulled to sleep by the comforts of his life; a life seemingly derailed or obscured by the immature choices of his youth. However, very like his well-nurtured butterflies, he craves for a brand new starting of his personal creation. He won’t ever be seen as an equal to Gracie and, with the upcoming departure of his twin youngsters off to varsity, he shutters to consider a life alone together with her. He drinks, he acts out, he cheats. He simply needs to interrupt freed from the chains of his outdated self earlier than it’s too late.
Colliding these forces with a masterful course, Todd Haynes creates among the best movies of his profession. Evoking among the dramatic aptitude of David Lynch’s view of suburbia and his previous movies’ historical past with the difficult roles we play in our personal lives, Haynes weaves a wealthy tapestry of melodrama, insanity, & metacommentary. Bold & stinging bursts of Marcelo Zarvos’ piano-laden rating blended with wealthy textures & hints of soppy focus create a heightened but generally soapy & comedic tone that attracts our consideration whereas the drama & the actions play out in a extra refined & tactical means.
The most radical means this film reveals its excellent execution is in its means to by no means dip too far into the salaciousness of its again story and by no means permitting our minds to dwell on the felony habits of its topics. Haynes presents it as a household disaster at a vital juncture on the eve of being uncovered. 90s tabloid movie star offers approach to fashionable true crime dissection & humanizing household trauma.
Overall, May December is likely one of the greatest movies of the yr and within the working for greatest Netflix Original movie of 2023. Burch & Mechanik’s empathetic, darkly humorous, & deeply layered screenplay is an ideal match for Haynes’ fascination with the decay beneath pristine facades. Portman, Moore, & Melton play off one another completely in essentially the most uncomfortable methods. I hope to see this movie proceed to be acknowledged as we get additional into awards season.
Watch May December If You Like
- Black Swan
- Single White Female
- Far From Heaven
- Carol
MVP of May December
Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry
May December, Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry. Cr. François Duhamel / Courtesy of Netflix
After spending the final decade largely bouncing between MCU motion pictures and forgettable movies, Portman appears to return again to type in her position as actress Elizabeth Berry in May December. Bringing the script to Todd Haynes’ consideration herself and co-producing the venture as nicely, Portman has been all in on this one from the start.
With her meta portrayal of types as an actress researching a job for an upcoming biopic, Portman creates a portrait of a girl who admires all of the fallacious elements of her topic and makes use of these traits to delve deeper into their rigorously crafted existence. Ranging from uncomfortable methodology appearing to sociopathic ranges of disregard, Portman’s Elizabeth blurs the strains between her personal skills to govern & dismiss these closest to her and the position of her sociopathic topic, which sheds guilt & disgrace at each flip. It’s Portman’s most fascinating & attractive position since Black Swan and she or he knocks it out of the park.
While many people haven’t seen the rest of Netflix’s 2023 slate, it’s protected to say May December is their most alluring & layered movie to this point. Haynes and his trio of wonderful actors have pulled one thing particular out of one thing so divisive.