starring: julianne moore, natalie portman, charles melton, and piper curda

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REVIEWER: lyall carter

Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.

Director Todd Haynes has made a career in finding the horrific in the mundane, everyday, slowly peeling back the layers of normality to expose the depraved in all its fury. But here in May December he begins with a completely unsettling and perverse subject: an adult who had a sexual relationship with a child. With a trio of powerhouse performances, May December drags us through manipulation, abject brokenness, and misery all under the guise of suburban respectability.

Despite what began as a shocking affair, then 36-year-old Gracie (Julianne Moore) and 13-year-old Joe (Charles Melton) now lead a seemingly picture-perfect suburban life some 20 years later. Their domestic bliss is disrupted when Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), a famous actress, arrives in their tight-knit community to research her upcoming role as Gracie. As Elizabeth ingratiates herself into the everyday lives of Gracie and Joe, the uncomfortable facts of their scandal unfurl, causing long-dormant emotions to resurface. 

In a scene where Elizabeth is interviewing Morris, Gracie’s lawyer, he tells her that a small group of women in the town buy Gracie’s baked goods to keep her busy, implying that they buy them while not really needing them. This brief exchange perfectly encapsulates the theme running through May December. 

The community are all very aware of what Gracie did and that she still believes that she did no wrong. And yet, despite it all, there is almost a collective amnesia over what she has done. Instead, the community look to embrace her. And the real question here is to what end? Is it truly redemptive, a community forgiving a criminal act and embracing the perpetrator? Or is it something more; a commitment to middle class respectability that can’t deal with the awkwardness of it all and so it ignores, forgets, and pretend everything is normal. 

It’s a thoroughly fascinating process, watching how it all then begins to unravel, and this bastion of respectability is dashed. All of this is anchored by incredible performances from Moore and Portman, as you’d expect, but it’s Charles Melton as Joe that is the real stand out here. He does so much with so little bodily movement or expression but you can’t help but see a little, frightened child still who remains trapped by his perpetrator.

With a trio of powerhouse performances, May December drags us through manipulation, abject brokenness, and misery all under the guise of suburban respectability.

★★★★