May December (2023)

“I am naive. I always have been. In a way, it’s been a gift.”

Bad Critic
2 min readFeb 24, 2024

May December is acclaimed director Todd Haynes’s latest film, starring Natalie Portman and his longtime collaborator Julianne Moore. The story is an unusual mix of tones, and it takes a full watchthrough to truly appreciate the subtleties of everyone’s performances. Melodramatic music highlights the satirical side of the story, while uncomfortable silences emphasize the heavier moments. The tragedy of May December is that the relationship at the core of the film has been legitimised, even embraced, by the broader community, while the satire comes from the mental gymnastics that everyone does to avoid talking about the very weird, very gross elephant in the room.

The film is primarily a critique on the hollowness of how we tell stories. Julianne Moore’s Gracie is very good at the stories she tells about herself, while Natalie Portman’s Elizabeth is completely unable to spot the plot holes right in front of her eyes. Both women are totally narcissistic, and they serve as uncomfortable mirrors for the other’s facade. In order to understand their selfishness, it’s important to divorce the words that they say from how they say the words, and compare the intentions they state at the beginning to the story with how they act by the end. Caught in between the women is Joe (breakout star Charles Melton). It’s his painful awakening about his lack of agency that grounds the story in reality.

First-time screenwriter Samy Burch told IndieWire in December all about the process of getting her first script made, highlighting how collaborative the process was with Todd Haynes and producer Jessica Elbaum. She explained how her work in casting other films “caused her to be very intentional with every character” so that “no one gets cut”. I think it’s this attention to detail that really balances out Moore and Portman’s powerhouse performances. Next to them, everyone just seems so ordinary. They reflect the audience’s discomfort, and while that is validating, it does nothing to alleviate the tension.

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Bad Critic
Bad Critic

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