Forbidden Passion and Dark Comedy Collide in Haynes’ May December
Starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, the latest film from director Todd Haynes is a tart, often funny treatise on exploitation and denial.
Gracie (Moore) shows Elizabeth (Portman) how she does her makeup in May December.
Photographer: François Duhamel/NetflixMay December opens with a tight close-up of a monarch butterfly, shot through gauze. The insect is beautiful, of course, but the turgid piano score, pounding away, tells us something about it is also frightening. We know drama is coming, possibly even terror, but also a bit of camp.
Todd Haynes, the master of atonal narrative, is back, directing a terrific screenplay from first-timer Samy Burch that’s almost impossible to categorize. Is this a thriller? A comedy? A tragedy? Well, it’s all three, and sometimes in the same scene.