Todd Haynes has made a career out of crafting nuanced character studies – all of his films, to an extent, are clinical examinations of complex characters and the people around them. I truly admire his ability to hone in on a subject, firmly and clearly establish it, then let the rest of the film unravel itself and the themes it represents. Haynes’ films are also incredibly patient, but never simplistic; he has such a calming and humanistic approach to filmmaking for someone who also has his work littered with symbolism and visual imagery galore. In short, he is simply one of the best, most dynamic filmmakers we have – I preface with all of this so that when I say that I found May December to be his finest film to date, I want everyone to know that I don’t say that lightly.
The film follows married couple Joe and Gracie (Charles Melton and Julianne Moore) twenty years after their infamous romance gripped the nation and tabloids everywhere. Now, a famous Hollywood actress named Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) meets them for research as she prepares to portray Gracie in a film about their past. Throughout the course of this story, Haynes tackles so many themes – from the way tabloids and real-life tragedies are glamorized, how we sensationalize the real people involved with said tabloids, the way one can try to create art (or trash) from tragedy, how one slowly and non-linearly processes trauma – but most of all, it is a film about performance.
Films about an actress and her subject are not entirely unique – in fact, films like Persona or Mulholland Drive (May December feels hyper aware of them, if not even directly paying homage to them at times) are films perfectly aligned with this exact premise. However, what makes May December feel so unique is simply Haynes’ approach to the subject matter and story. If you read the synopsis of this film to me, I would never in a million years believe that you could create comedy from the central idea that the film digs into. And yet, Haynes quite masterfully balances some truly deep, aching, human emotion with some of the hardest laughs I’ve had in quite some time. From the abrupt and dramatic musical cues to the way he frames shots as if they’re plucked from a Lifetime original movie about a real life tragedy – he simply is juggling so much at the same time, and it thankfully all not only works but compliments each other perfectly.
Obviously in a film about performances you have to deliver on that front, and both Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are quite brilliant here; dueling off of each other symbiotically. Every scene they share together is so precise and full of unspoken tension. Moore does a wonderful job at playing an anomaly of a woman who you have wildly conflicting feelings about every second you spend with her, and Portman brilliantly portrays the moral ambiguity of Elizabeth and whether or not she actually cares about these people or simply is using them for gain. However, the real scene-stealer here is Charles Melton who gives one of the finest, most heartbreaking and understated performances I’ve seen from an actor in quite some time.
Melton’s character is so unbelievably tragic, as he plays a man who is now 36 yet is a father of three and has already sent his oldest off to college. He’s now preparing for his other two kids to leave the nest so he and his wife can become empty nesters. The dichotomy of Melton’s character, where he is both eternally youthful and boyish in how he acts yet is so clearly plagued with the curse of never being able to fulfill his childhood in any normal way, is simply heartbreaking. And every moment he’s on screen, Melton mines the character’s potential to its fullest degree yet never oversells it; it’s a quietly devastating performance that is perfectly restrained in all the best ways. He deserves serious awards consideration for this.
Another fascinating aspect of the film is how it views not only the central relationship at hand and how Elizabeth latches onto it, but how one event from so many years ago caused a ripple effect through not only all of the immediate family and friends of the two involved, but the community as a large. Instead of seeing any of these characters full-on angry or remorseful for any of the events that occurred, we either find them at peace with the leads or quietly bitter about the entire thing. This all helps the film go a step above being simply a character study on three individuals and how tragedy creates art and content but also how outside forces treat and view these figures as well.
May December is a multi-layered, genre-breaking, tour de force of complex emotion and dark comedy. Simply put, Todd Haynes has crafted a meticulous and masterwork here that will certainly throw people off by how devoted it is to its very singular and unique tone. Any lesser filmmaker would instantly fumble a story such as this, but Haynes is simply a master of his craft – he brilliantly finds a fine line between being darkly hilarious and utterly devastating while the two never cancel each other out. It’s one of the most staggering feats of filmmaking and balancing tones I’ve seen in quite some time, and is easily one of the best films I’ve had the pleasure of viewing this year.
5/5
May December will have a two-week theatrical run starting on Friday, November 17th, and will be released on Netflix on Friday, December 1st
Films for Breakfast 
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