May December

I can’t quite put my finger on why I was so excited for this film. The two leads were certainly part of it: Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman consistently do great work, no matter the role. The conceit is uncommon enough to stand out (although far from new), while being loosely based on a real story. But I think ultimately, it’s the type of story which seems simple from the outside but contains a multitude of complex and nuanced perspectives and experiences. A relationship like this often the subject of judgement (rightfully or not), and so the people contained within can easily be flattened to caricatures. As such, making a narrative feature is a chance to highlight those who are often ignored in their own story.

Over twenty years after 36-year-old Gracie (Julianne Moore) was discovered having sex with 7th grader Joe (Charles Melton), Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) will be playing Gracie in a film adaptation of their story. So she visits the long since married couple, spending a few weeks learning as much as she can about who they are, their familial relationships, and trying to dig up dirt. She visits the site of their “affair”, talks to the neighbors, and imitates Gracie whenever possible. Something’s definitely off, and we can imagine parts of why, but no one seems ready to talk about it. So Elizabeth makes that her mission.

As such, this plays out as part family drama and part investigative piece. Over the runtime, we’re slowly given more and more details about the couple’s relationship, constructing a picture of the events and their viewpoint on them. We witness Gracie’s maternalistic attitude towards Joe, instructing him to do chores and chastising him for drinking. We see how Joe appears stunted in his development, apparently doing little more than vegging out on the couch or walking the dog. And we see how the family and neighbors interact with all of them, mostly friendly in front of their faces while speaking in hushed tones behind their backs. All of which draws us in, as we wait for the moment when the dam breaks and much tea is spilt.

Amping up the tension even more is the thematic sting used over every little reveal. It’s heavy handed and cheesy, in a way that signals the movie knows exactly what it’s doing. The melodrama and camp are wholly intentional. Nonetheless, it wants you to pay close attention to all manner of different details and behaviors and situations in an attempt to bring them all together in a final kicker near the end.

This prevents us from ever really getting our footing. This, combined with the movie’s insistence on Elizabeth not getting much from Gracie or Joe, makes it hard to get invested in the characters. The story is naturally engaging, but without that extra layer, it starts to drag out as we wonder where all this is headed. There’s a clear interiority to the couple, which is credit to both Moore and Melton, but we spend so long without getting any of it that it starts to feel hollow after a while. Even the moments when it trickles out happen in such unsatisfying and frustrating ways that it doesn’t resolve the feeling.

It doesn’t help that we spend a lot of time with Gracie, who’s intensely unlikable. She’s very clearly either a liar or delusional (or both!), so we immediately distrust most of what she says. Her defensiveness and passive aggression both come on quickly and out of nowhere, and are quite harsh. There are moments when we see her emotional instability, marked by sobbing uncontrollably in bed and becoming even quicker to anger than usual (maybe this is supposed to be depression, but if so, there’s never any indication apart from the crying). With her sizable chunk of screen time, we’re spending a ton of time watching someone lie to our faces when we know it. Which means one of the key moments from the film’s climax lands with a big “So what?”, because we have no reason to trust her.

The movie just seems bloated. It’s not too bad at first, as there are plenty of “filler” scenes which serve to flesh out the characters and relationships and their community. But as we push towards the end, a few key decisions render much of that moot, and thus appearing pointless. Most were good scenes, so it’s hard to feel like your time was truly wasted, but it would have been nice for them to, ya know, matter.

The performances, though, are pretty good. Moore is doing this odd little lispy voice for some reason, but she makes it work, along with her ability to always have a big, bright, cheerful smile on her face. Melton does a good job selling the idea that the whole situation kinda messed him up in ways he might not even realize, although the premise of the whole movie causes us to project that idea onto him, making his job a lot easier. Which is why I disagree with the high praise he’s been getting for this role, by the way: he does have a few great scenes near the end (especially that confrontation), but overall he does a good job without elevating anything. For my money, it’s Portman who’s the standout, although she’s given better performances in her career. She plays a convincingly eager but naive actor who’s so ready to go method as to lose herself in minutia, all while separating the role from herself.

While a perfectly good drama, if you’re looking for deeper meaning either because of the filmmaker or the subject matter, you’re likely to be disappointed. It’s far from a complete whiff: as I said, it’s engaging, and it’s got plenty of humor, both in the form of explicit jokes and by leaning more into camp and overwrought scenes. So you’re likely to have a good time. You’ve just got to accept that it’s not going to land its punches perfectly, and so it feels a bit hollow when you find yourself still standing at the end.