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This review was originally published May 22, 2023.
On January 23, 2024,May Decemberwasnominated for a Best Original Screenplay Oscar.
Be sure to also read ourIn Conversation with director Todd Haynes.
Todd HaynessMay Decemberis a booby trap of a movie.
What the hell am I talking about?
while working at a local pet shop.
They hit the tabloids, and Gracie went to jail, where she had Joes baby behind bars.
Elizabeth has been cast to play Gracie in a movie and is here to study her life.
I want you tofeel seen, she earnestly tells Gracie, using the cultural cliche of our times.
Justbekind, a neighbor tells her, using another.
May Decemberis very funny and light on its feet, but its also a deeply uncomfortable movie.
Watching it at Cannes, I found myself cackling with delight along with an audience of 2,000 other people.
Stepping out into the rainy night, however, I felt like I needed to take a shower.
I think that was the intention.
The films surfaces are pleasant and gentle, the performances quiet.
Haynes punctuates other seemingly mundane scenes in similarly grandiose fashion.
Thats because the movie itself is about the characters disconnect from whats happening.
Shes also a complete micromanager who doesnt seem to know when shes being downright cruel.
She notes with concern when Joes had a second bottle of beer.
(The kid looks perfectly fine.)
We sense that Gracie has always been like this always mothering, frequently smothering.
One imagines what the always-hovering Gracie herself might have done had a grown woman seduced her 13-year-old.
Joe, meanwhile, seems to still be a child at the age of 36.
And yet, among all these screwed-up people, Portmans Elizabeth might be the most screwed-up of all.
Watching Gracie, she notes her physical features and her demeanor.
(Mechanical, or just removed?
she asks herself.)
The film is both humane and scathing.
It feels at times like the director himself looking for the right tone with which to tell this story.
He doesnt know exactly how to feel about all this.
So he feels all the things, and makes sure we do, too.
