Deviled eggs, Wonderbread, pineapple upside down cake, milk, hot dogs, and burgers. All-American food for a typical All-American family. But the Atherton-Yoo family of Todd Haynes’ May December is anything but typical. In 1991, Gracie (Julianne Moore) had an affair at age 36 with the then 12 year old Joe, (Charles Melton). 24 years later, after a jail sentence and public notoriety, the married couple leads a seemingly ordinary life in the suburbs (save from occasional boxes of doggie poo dropped on their doorstep) as their two youngest children prepare to graduate from high school. However, the illusion of normalcy, community acceptance, and peace begins to ripple due to the intrusion of television star Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) in their lives, who gets to know the family better as she prepares to play Gracie in an upcoming film.
The film engages with the dilemma of “the devil you know.” There are two great forces of evil, both disguised in different ways, inherently connected to feminine power. Gracie is the straightforward evil, a rapist, sex criminal, who revels in her ability to hide behind a facade of innocence, naivety, femininity, and weakness. A huntress and master chef, she embodies both feminine and masculine gender roles typical within marriages, treating Joe more like a pet and a servant than husband. The more devious, but just as dastardly evil is Elizabeth, wicked smart without an ounce of morality, willing to cross any line to get what she wants, but only if she really needs to, because most of the time she’s so charismatic and attractive she’s able to seduce whatever she wants out of anyone before it gets that far. Both women are master manipulators, and recognize that quality in each other, mirrors of themselves, both metaphorically and as a visual motif, as Haynes places them side by side, gazing into the mirror together more than once, beautiful women with corrupted souls.
Both Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore execute exquisite, powerhouse performances. Moore embraces the housewife persona Haynes loves to explore with her, in previous works like Safe (1995) and Far From Heaven (2002). Her performance is especially emblematic of Safe, with her airy breath, and subtle lisp. Portman has the more self-referential role, an actress playing an actress, and she performs with gusto and an extreme sense of control over her body that impresses just as much as her jaw-dropping performance in Black Swan (2010).
The rest of the characters are all collateral damage in Gracie and Elizabeth’s sick game, but none as pitiful as Charles Melton’s Joe. No longer a young boy but a grown man, Gracie has kept him stunted and helpless, a pawn and an underling. It’s no wonder Elizabeth is so easily able to manipulate him, mirroring Gracie’s tactics and employing a few of her own. His transformation as he comes to self-realization throughout the course of the film is heartbreaking, his pitiful attempts at confrontation never manifesting the change he realizes he desperately needs. A devoted father and family man, his world comes crashing down as he begins to realize his past is not only abnormal, but insidious and horrific.
All the tension in May December allows for many hilarious laugh-out-loud moments filled with awkwardness and pain. The music swells, tense and moody and foreboding, as Gracie scrutinizes the refrigerator, the tension broken by her somber line, delivered with conviction and “I don’t think we have enough hot dogs.” Haynes masterfully concocts many of these tense moments, the release often keeping the audience off-balance and unsure of how to feel, a common theme throughout the film where morality has been thrown out the window just on the premise alone. Acquired by Netflix, I hope there’s a theatrical release so audiences can communally experience the laughter, tension, and pain Haynes weaves together, as well as seeing the beautiful cinematography and the satisfying grain of the imagery on the big screen.