Cannes Film Festival: ‘May December’ Is About “Human Transgression’
May December, Todd Haynes’ film that received an eight-minute standing ovation at Cannes late on Saturday evening, is a film all about transgression, star Julianne Moore told the press Sunday.
Asked to explain the title, Haynes said it referred to an English expression for an “age-gap relationship.” He paused before quipping, “In France, they call it the Macron.”
Haynes’ latest stars Moore (in her fourth collaboration with the director), Natalie Portman and Charlie Melton, and tells the story of an actress Elizabeth (Portman) who travels to Maine to study the life of a real-life woman Gracie (played by Moore) she is set to play in a film.
The Haynes-esque complication comes with the reason for Gracie’s notoriety, the fact she was previously jailed for a relationship with an underage partner Joe, played by Melton — the transgression on which Moore reflected:
“My character is someone who transgresses, and how do we address that? When is age inappropriate? When people are in different places developmentally. This is not appropriate and why we have boundaries around that.
“In this movie, you see Gracie’s transgressions as well as everybody else’s. This movie feels so dangerous because you don’t know where anyone’s boundaries are – it feels scary. That’s what Todd has captured so beautifully.”
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Haynes added: “There are problematic aspects as to how this relationship began, which works towards a conflict at the end. And yet this is complicated by the fact that this relationship endured. Yes, there’s disparity of age, there are human transgressions, but these are opportunities for us to look at ourselves and the culture we live in. For some of my films, that’s been a recurring subject.”
It was Portman who initially sent Samy Burch’s script to Haynes back in 2020. She told the press: “Todd’s vision of the dark side under this American idyll he’s explored before, he has that ability to create tension and drama with very subtle strokes.”
And Haynes remembered: “I was immediately captivated, its restrained way of observing this story. It created this anxiety and excitement — who do you trust, who is viable? And that keeps peeling back in layers.”
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As with Haynes’ previous work, women are at the forefront of the film, and Portman took the opportunity to reflect on the different ways women are expected to behave, “even here at Cannes… How we’re supposed to look, how we’re supposed to carry ourselves. The expectations are different on you all the time.”
Moore supported this, saying: “Who we are as prescribed by culture, gender, race… this idea about free will is not true. There are too many systems in place… Women are not a minority group, we’re 50% of the population, so it’s important we’re treated as such.”
With this the fourth time Haynes has recruited Moore to star on screen, both were asked about the power of their collaboration. Mutually adoring, Moore explained: “I feel like I understand Todd, I see his point of view. I feel so fortunate to have had this creative partnership, it’s something you wish for as an actor, it’s unbelievable and moving to me, I’m forever grateful.”
In return, Haynes said: “I learn things from watching Julie on every single film we do together. Having her know me and what I’m thinking about, it’s an uncanny relationship to film, there’s always something I can’t even determine in the room shooting that you see in the film with her.”
The film was shot in just 23 days. Moore described the cast as “burning through this” on an experience that Portman described as “fun, meaningful and fast.”
Source: Deadline
