{"id":77295,"date":"2023-05-22T06:55:54","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T20:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=233556"},"modified":"2023-05-22T15:44:19","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T15:44:19","slug":"may-december-cannes","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/may-december-cannes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannes Film Festival 2023: \u2018May December\u2019 Is an Unbelievably Complicated and Compelling Study of Age and Twisted Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 20: Cory Michael Smith, Julianne Moore, Director Todd Haynes, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton attend the “May December” red carpet during the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 20, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Mike Marsland\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CANNES, FRANCE: There\u2019s an early scene in Todd Haynes\u2019 latest drama where 36-year-old actress Elizabeth (played by Academy Award-winner Natalie Portman)<\/a> visits the sprawling seaside property of Gracie Artherton-Yoo (Academy Award winner Julianne Moore<\/a>), the woman Elizabeth is playing in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look taller on television, but we\u2019re basically the same size,\u201d 60-year-old Gracie tells Elizabeth, nervously patting her cooking apron.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re basically the same,\u201d Elizabeth lies.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth is spending time with Gracie and her husband Joe (Riverdale<\/em>\u2019s Charles Melton) who were at the center of a nationwide scandal 20 years prior. At the time, Gracie was a 36-year-old teacher at Joe\u2019s school \u2014 and Joe was just 13 when the pair struck up a relationship. As they tell Elizabeth, they were caught in the act in the back of a pet store.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s fascinating to me is my character transgresses. An age gap is one thing,\u201d the ever articulate Moore says, adjusting her microphone as she addresses the press in Cannes. \u201cBut a relationship between an adult and a child is something else entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Gracie’s] transgression, I believe, is so enormous that she sort of buries it within her own identity and in her own performative femininity,\u201d she continues. \u201cWhen is age inappropriate? It\u2019s inappropriate when people are in different places developmentally, and when someone is not an adult. In this particular movie, you see Gracie\u2019s transgressions as well as everybody else\u2019s. And the reason this film feels so dangerous is because people don\u2019t know where anyone\u2019s boundaries are. It feels scary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 21: Natalie Portman, Charles Melton, Todd Haynes, Julianne Moore and Cory Michael Smith attend the “May December” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Lionel Hahn\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m unsure about “scary,\u201d but parts of this film definitely feel unsettling. Between Gracie\u2019s over-the-top breakdown over a cake, to a seemingly put-together Elizabeth attempting to seduce Joe, the film does get quite dark at times \u2014 and Haynes has done an excellent job at capturing the moment where someone crosses a social boundary and everybody else in that room feels unsafe, the audience included. Who can you trust? Comic enlightenment arrives in the form of a crashing four-note piano refrain \u2014 but it does so at the strangest of times, and almost makes light of the heavy subject matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredible to get to be a part of a film like this which has two such complex, really human characters that are full of all of those delicious conflicts that we are all full of,\u201d says Portman, who is dressed in a red blazer and mini dress combo \u00e0 la Jackie Kennedy, a role she famously landed<\/a>. \u201cIt was incredible to see Todd\u2019s view of women simply as humans and allow us to be messy and complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"may-december-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 21: US-Israeli actress Natalie Portman poses during a photocall for the film May December in competition at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What transpires is a lot of mismanaged past traumas from a group of people who seemingly have never had a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror. Shot across just 23 days, the on-screen combined power of Portman and Moore is immense, particularly in one scene where the pair are in the bathroom and Gracie is showing Elizabeth how she puts her makeup on. The scene seems to show the emotional pull Gracie has over younger people \u2014 and it\u2019s disturbing. Some might even say scary. But you’re unable to look away as both women are so engaging.<\/p>\n

\"may-december-cannes\"
CANNES, FRANCE – MAY 21: Julianne Moore attends the “May December” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 21, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Daniele Venturelli\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the grueling schedule, Moore tells of the day where she needed to recite six pages of dialogue \u2014 which is a lot in actor land \u2014 and she felt she couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNat said, \u2018You got this,\u2019\u201d recalls Moore, who is dressed is Chanel white jeans. \u201cAnd I was so grateful. I still say it to myself \u2014 I really do \u2014 on my own. Everyone [on set] was so invested, connected and collaborative and supportive of one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a joy getting to watch Julianne as part of my character, because it\u2019s what I wanted to do anyway,\u201d says Portman. \u201cI had to keep reminding myself that I was in the scene also!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":77297,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[30,17,16],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cMay December\u201d Is Unbelievably Complicated and Compelling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Director Todd Haynes returns to Cannes for the fifth time to give us an incredibly fraught drama with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/may-december-cannes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Must-See: Natalie Portman, 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