‘Insecure people are very dangerous, aren’t they? I’m secure. Make sure you put that in there...’
When you watch as many films as I do, you often sit through a story without a memorable character. When a film like May December comes along with at least three characters who could carry their own movie… well, this should be cherished. Celebrated director Todd Haynes, here once again reuniting with his long-time muse Julianne Moore, has delivered a film in May December which is challenging, thought-provoking and gleefully salacious…
Loosely based on the real-life case of Mary Kay Letourneau (look it up – it’s grim), May December sees Moore taking on the Letourneau role (here renamed as Gracie) with Natalie Portman playing a famous actress who spends time with Gracie as she is planning on portraying her in a film adaptation of her life. So far, so meta. Joe Yoo plays Charles Melton, the victim of a terrible sexual assault and father to a seemingly beautiful family provided to him by his attacker. It’s a bizarre situation made all the more complicated by its basis in truth.
May December is a distinctive cinematic experience. Haynes lingers on close-ups of both Moore and Portman – often shooting both of them together staring straight down the camera. It’s an eerie effect that poses questions about duality, the art of performance and cinema itself. The constant presence of butterflies and chrysalises hints at a rebirth but Haynes allows the viewer to decide if anything has changed at all by the time the credits roll. Portman is revelatory. Her Elizabeth is a world away from her usual mild-mannered sad girls and she brings a complexity to the role that can only be provided by a world-famous and critically adored movie star. It’s clever casting from Haynes and she appears in almost every scene, sharing a very different kind of chemistry with her two co-leads. Her scenes with Yoo – all repressed emotion and tender physicality – smoulder with desire while the moments she shares with Moore feel more like a chess match played out through passive-aggressive comments and sideways glances rather than rooks and pawns. It’s a fascinating battle. Yoo is excellent also despite being by far the most inexperienced member of the trio. He plays Charles as a closed book. Always slumped on a sofa or staring off into the middle distance. Elsewhere, sadly there is little room for Cory Michael Smith to shine but he steals every scene in which he appears as Gracie’s eldest son from her first marriage.
May December is daring and provocative cinema that isn’t afraid to disorientate and challenge the viewer. Haynes has always been comfortable exploring the dark underbelly of the American middle classes and he does so again here with aplomb.