May December (2023) – 3/5

Competently-written character study that offers more tragedy than initially perceived

„May December“ is a new American English-language full feature film released by Netflix, but this one can not only be seen on their streaming website, but also luckily in movie theaters worldwide. I am not sure if it is a movie that really needs to be seen on the big screen, but if you go for it, you are also not really doing anything wrong. This is the newest work by director Todd Haynes, who is in his early 60s now definitely one of the big-name filmmakers in Hollywood right now, has worked with Winslet, Blanchett and many others. Usually, he also comes up with the script, but this time he left that part of production to Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. If you look at the fact that one of those two has worked on the Hunger Games franchise before and the other has been more of an editor than a writer, then the outcome of these slightly under two hours is surely a positive surprise and the Oscar nomination is also not undeserving I would say. The dialogue writing is especially good here and this is maybe also where you find the heart and soul of the film. Still, you can say that one Oscar nomination is not that much if you look at the film’s success with other awards bodies, how it was nominated for three acting Golden Globes and also in the Musical/Comedy category. One of the most bizarre categorizations in recent years. Maybe it was done because Portman and the film might not have gotten in for drama. No surprise that Portman did not get the Oscar nomination. Julianne Moore may have had a better chance, but the one or two vacant spots next to the pretty safe nominees ended up going to other actresses. By the way, this was of course not the first time Haynes worked with Moore. They are also approximately the same age.

The one person who people thought could potentially score the Oscar nomination was half-Korean supporting actor Charles Melton because he was not only nominated for the Golden Globe, but scored really big with (critics) awards bodies all season long. It wasn’t meant to be in the end though. Pity. He would have deserved it and it is quite spectacular how he holds his own so well here next to Oscar winners Portman and Moore and for the majority of scenes he shares the screen with one of the two and also not really anybody else. You can definitely make a case too for Moore and Melton being leads in here and not supporting players. The film would not have worked without their characters. I guess one crucial component was maybe that the film started with Portman’s character and ended with her as well. Now let’s look a bit at the action: I had a feeling that something romantic or just sexual could happen between the two younger protagonists at some point, but then again it felt maybe too absurd for me because the male seemed to be in love with his wife judging from what we see and how he interacts with her. In retrospective, you can say he was merely a boy trying to adapt and do what would be expected from him in certain situations, like especially when his wife is not treating him too well. He still tries his best to be there for her, comfort her and make her feel better. There is a great deal of façade going on in this movie no doubt about, especially if you look at the scenes in which Moore’s character is just with her husband compared to those scenes when she is in the public. And most people fall for it. Just take the one who tells Portman’s character early on to go easy on Moore’s.

Then there is also the idea of purpose when it comes to Moore’s character how all she does these days is bake pineapple pies for the neighbors and that is not a lot and when one couple moves away from the neighborhood and cancels the cakes, we see what it does to her. By the way, initially I was thinking that Moore is also playing a former actress in this film here, but seems she was rather a teacher back then 20 years ago and no celebrity. Maybe it was just me thinking about „Maps to the Stars“ there. Her two characters are perhaps not entirely different. Another thing I liked from this film was the soundtrack. The score was quite interesting, not as subtle as you would expect, but especially in the first half pretty loud at times. I liked the tunes too. Peter Frampton’s perhaps most famous number is also always appreciated. As for Portman’s character, it can be said that there is a great deal of sexual tension to her as well. I will just mention three examples. The first would be the way how she reenacts the sexual act from more than 20 years ago right where it took place. The second would be her talking about sex scene at the auditorium there and the of course the sex scene with the male protagonist, which is not very long, but changes everything. Also for him and what he has to say to his wife a little later was also really telling. The dialogue in the scene itself between Melton and Portman was interesting too how in a way he has to put his own happiness above everything else. I don’t know the exact words. But Moore has some good lines too towards the end, especially what she says about insecure and that it can turn people into dangerous creatures.

From maybe around the 80-minute mark, I had the feeling that the film could even end in tragedy and this is where it sprang back to my mind what Moore’s character mentioned about how she herself shot the animal on her plate on one occasion and that her parents taught her. We even see her in the end walking around with a gun there and we may have gotten a massacre with some other filmmakers, but not with Haynes. He leaves the possibility open, but the last shot we get with Melton and Moore is rather the she is psychologically torturing him. For example, how he is not allowed to enter the premise to watch his two kids‘ graduation. A bit ironic too because they seem to get along better with him than with her mother. Just take the scene with the sleeveless dress comment from her. I mean she may try her best, but it’s not working out. There is a brief moment when Melton’s character tells his daughter as well how stunning she looks, but you will miss it if you blink. Or take the scene with him on top of the roof with his son there and how the father is almost more of the boy in this scene. The graduation inclusion is pretty telling to. It may be a graduation for Melton’s character too into a whole new life there. What is even more obvious is then the caterpillar who turns into a butterfly and this is really as much in your face as it gets how he comes there and lets the beautiful butterfly out of his prison and does not force it to stay inside. So the more you think about all this, the more you will see Moore’s character as the real antagonist here, even if she is a woman too who is really struggling and probably not healthy from a mental point of view. The dislike between the two female character is also all over the place. Not only when Moore talks about it specifically, but these two are never buddies or friends. If you wonder why Moore’s character agreed to let Portman’s be so close to them, even join there for the family meal before graduation, then it is probably because she does not want to be portrayed in a way that will make people hate her even more. There is a lot more to say about this film really. I would say that last third of the film was maybe the best and where it really caught me. I mean everything before that was solid too and the positive recommendation was never in doubt, but towards the end, it is really almost an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

The two writers (and Haynes) also found a good moment to end the film I would say, even if you can speculate why Portman wanted to kept shooting the scene. Does she really understand Moore’s character now more than she should and has some of her instability and insecurity growing inside her too? Up for discussion. What is 100% clear, however, is that the marriage between the two (pseudo-)supporting players would be definitely over the moment Moore’s character finds out her man has given Portman’s character this letter to her. On a side note, as the end of the review is almost there, it felt interesting to me that you find many mirrors and reflections in this film, which was definitely no coincidence, but I am also not sure yet what to really make of this inclusion. Finally, even if I had more negative to say about Moore’s character, it can be added that Portman’s is also not a likable one. She is in a relationship and thus cheats on her man. Her conversations with him were also far from friendly if you look at the phone talk at the very beginning where she is really too busy for a conversation and also how she says she loves him, but ends the conversation already before he returned those words. She may be in her own unfulfilling romance relationship. I will leave it at that, even if, as I already said, there is way more to discuss in theory, like the almost-escalation of the pre-graduation meal, everything related to the musician son, especially the sexual abuse reference to Moore’s character’s brothers or the discussions between Portman’s character and Moore’s character’s ex-husband and lawyer or the almost biblical snake moment at the very end. Feel free to do so with the ones you watch the film with. I surely think it is worth seeing and if you are a fan of Portman and/or Moore already, then it is close to a must-see and if not, then it will probably at least turn you into a Charles Melton fan. I am curious where his career is going to lead him over the next years. There’s ten years between him and Portman by the way and they are not even close to the same age like in the movie. Finally, for me from a personal perspective, the film was also interesting because of the asthma references and a guinea-pig being depicted on one occasion. That is really all now. Or wait, let me say that Portman resembled Penélope Cruz a little bit here at times in the first half of the film when the haircut and makeup felt accordingly.