May December

I had to look this up, but it seems that 'May December' refers to a relationship between a young person and a much older one. The couple in question are Joe (Charles Melton) and Gracie (Julianne Moore) and it's not so much the age gap that's the issue, more the fact that Joe was 13 when their 'affair' began. The wrinkle that this is all loosely based on real events adds a sense of car-crash voyeurism to proceedings.

As the film kicks off, it's been 20-odd years since the controversy and Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is sent to shadow Gracie before playing her in a movie about the tabloid romance. This is a real actorly film, shot through the looking glass of melodrama. The layers are thick and peely - the tabloid news story, which was previously made into a TV movie, is now being 'researched' by Portman for a feature. Everything feels like a show until Joe berates Portman that it's NOT a story, it's his "fucking life".

Portman is superb and Moore is just as good, but in a slightly more thankless role. The tension between the subject and the mimicker is palpable - there are a few scenes with mirrors (in a dress shop, in the bathroom, etc.) where the two of them are subtly eyeing each other up and they're awkwardly electric. The writers Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik give director Todd Haynes plenty of gold to work with here. It reeks of symbolism, not just the mirrors, it's also no coincidence that Joe collects Monarch butterflies - but who is transforming into whom? Elizabeth even begins to affect a slight lisp, though I wasn't sure if Gracie developed this earlier in the film, maybe as a way of discombobulating Elizabeth. Certainly her line about insecure people at the end indicates that Gracie isn't the mug here.

Incidentally, May December has been nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the upcoming Golden Globes. Now, assuming it's not a musical (the score is by Marcelo Zarvos, lifting Michel Legrand's music from the great Joseph Losey film The Go-Between), then this is the driest 'comedy' - so dry it's virtually dehydrated. In fact, the times when that incongruously melodramatic music kicked in were when I realised Haynes was messing with his audience a touch. 

One particular highlight was a scene in the high school drama class where Elizabeth takes part in a Q&A with the students and manages to satisfy some and alienate others. It's a brave film in that it gives the viewer almost nobody to empathise with. Removing all character nuance, Gracie is a convicted paedophile, Elizabeth's a vain, selfish 'Hollywood' type and Joe's a boring, easily manipulated dolt. Of course, it's much less monochrome than all that but it's still hard to warm to any of them. Maybe that's the point.

May December is screening at UWA Somerville from Dec 26 - 31 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also:

This has been likened to Joseph L. Mankiewicz's excellent All About Eve (1950) and to get a feel of that music in its authentic context, have a look at Losey's The Go-Between (1971).