Reflecting on crime in May December

Twenty years back, 36-year old teacher Gracie (Julianne Moore) groomed 13-year old Korean-American student Joe (Charles Melton) into a “romantic” relationship as a mask for statutory rape. The two are still together, clinging to their partnership in the face of public revulsion. But their marriage is upended when Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), a famous actress, arrives in their community to research her upcoming role as Gracie.

As Elizabeth works to understand Gracie, her transformation slowly opens Joe’s eyes to Gracie’s manipulations, while putting viewers in an uncomfortable position. “You have a set of expectations that Elizabeth is going to be our proxy, our way into this story, and we’re going to be able to trust her. She wants to represent the real truth,” explains director Todd Haynes. “The honest portrait she hopes to erect, her own investment in revealing truths, becomes clouded by her own ambitions and presumptions, her own denials…we begin to see more similarities between Elizabeth and Gracie than either seem capable of seeing in themselves.

“May December explores one of the great talents of the human species: our colossal refusal to look at ourselves. All lives, all families, are the result of choices, and revisiting them, probing them, is a risky business… all the more so when so many defences have been called upon to shut out such unanimous contempt and judgement,” says Todd.

A dangerous transformation

One of the most remarkable scenes in the film involves the moment in which Elizabeth “becomes” Gracie, as the two sit in front of a mirror and Gracie teaches Elizabeth how she does her makeup.

Now 56 years old, Gracie maintains a girlish femininity in how she speaks, looks and behaves. She’s the peak, pastel princess of performative femininity. “What really distinguishes Gracie is how much she’s driven by her own will and desires, and that the men in her life are going to ultimately yield to her needs and demands,” says Todd, who explains that Gracie’s sharpest tool for getting what she wants is by “playing somebody who needs to be saved and rescued and somebody who wants to feel that she’s made almost more feminine and more girlish. In a way, it’s obviously a device to deny the age difference between her and Joe and to imbue him with a masculine agency.”

To achieve that girlishness, costume designer April Napier reveals, “We established Gracie first – what her colour palette was. And that was based on her needing to be soft, feminine, and princess-like. We used a lot of lavenders, pinks, salmons, ivories. Once we had those costumes set, then we could bring in Elizabeth and we knew that we needed Elizabeth to start dark. She’s in a deep burgundy the first time that we see her. And then slowly you see the arc of her getting softer and softer into some greys, some lavenders, some pinks, some beiges as she transforms into this person that she’s mirroring.”

Makeup artist Reilly Lehane adds, “We had an intentional plan to have something slightly, subtly off about her. For example, Gracie’s pink lipstick is not a colour you can find on the shelves. It’s definitely a nod to the past and something that is unique to her that no one else would wear in the movie, and very girlish and youthful and romantic – like a spring day.”

Hair designer Nicole Bridgeford adds another piece to the puzzle explaining, “Gracie is almost in her own bubble, her own world that she’s created and that makes sense to her. Same with the hair. The colour is very intentional and has a lot of brightness. She found something that she’s comfortable with and she’s sticking with it.”

It all comes together as we watch Gracie show Elizabeth how she does her makeup. Makeup artist Heba Thorisdottir reveals, “When we shot that scene, I remember looking around and seeing everybody’s jaw was on the floor because it was the first time we really saw Natalie’s Elizabeth becoming Gracie. “There’s so much going on in that scene that has everything and nothing to do with makeup. A woman’s cosmetic bag is her holy grail, and so when Gracie says, ‘Oh, it’s just better if I do your makeup,’ Elizabeth hesitates a little bit because she’s shocked by it. Most women would be because it is so intimate.” It’s the key to the psychological intimacy that turns Elizabeth into Gracie.

A mile in uncomfortable shoes

Co-producer Pamela Koffler acknowledges that the film is as compelling as it is uncomfortable. “It throws you off balance. You’re wondering, ‘How should I be feeling about these characters? They’re appealing and they’re likeable, and I’m curious about them, but they’re despicable. But are they really despicable?’.”

Sophie Mass, also a co-producer, says, “It’s intriguing to explore a narrative that shows the story after the controversy has subsided – the effects that controversy has had on these people and their lives and how it haunts them even as they have tried to move on. A trauma deferred, but not properly dealt with by anyone.”

Co-producer Christine Vachon adds, “I would describe the tone as walking a fine line between a salacious tabloid moment and the story of a family in crisis and people who have lost the ability to have any kind of self-awareness. It’s one of those films where you find yourself laughing and then you realise you’re not laughing anymore.”

Natalie Portman has the final word. “People who do things that society might deem bad are often interesting to actors because art is a place where you’re supposed to be able to look for understanding behaviour, but without judgement. Judgement is for law or for society, but art is for just peering into a mind and allowing yourself that curiosity.”