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Content warning: This article includes mentions of sexual abuse.

In the first few minutes of “May December,” director Todd Haynes clues us into a world of stunted growth and seedy underbellies. Frightening piano music plays over images of monarch butterflies in the opening credits — a picture of natural innocence is tainted by something unseen.

What we actually do see is an idyllic Savannah, Georgia, community, home to the family of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) and her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton). The weather is sunny, their house is gorgeous and their lives seem content.

Then, actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) arrives at the Atherton-Yoo home. Preparing to play Gracie in an upcoming independent film on her life, Elizabeth hands her subject a package from the front door. It turns out to be a box of feces.

Here, Haynes reveals the truth of his latest film: in giving a seemingly ordinary package to the seemingly cordial Gracie, Elizabeth opens up a nasty reality of trauma. Gracie, we soon learn, was 36 when she was arrested for sexually assaulting 13-year-old Joe. Twenty-three years after birthing his first child in prison, Gracie is married to Joe with three children.

The sickening backstory of this relationship is loosely inspired by Mary Kay Letourneau, a sex offender and former teacher who was arrested for having sex with a 12-year-old student. Informed by this real-life case, even incorporating it into dialogue, the melodrama of “May December” is horrifying and gripping.

Haynes’ characters often revel in fake pleasantries and make excuses for obvious abuse. Small gestures and cadences are pivotal in gradually peeling back the masks guarding the main three characters.

Initially, Gracie and Joe insist they love each other, that they’re not defined by their past. Elizabeth’s arrival is somewhat of an intrusion on their home life, especially because their twin children, Charlie and Mary, are about to graduate high school.

Elizabeth assures the pair that her role in the upcoming movie will portray Gracie and Joe’s life truthfully, however. “It’s a very complex and human story,” she says. But what is the truth to her? Is it that they loved each other all along, or simply that an adult woman took advantage of a young boy? While Gracie and Joe convince themselves of the former, Elizabeth employs the latter for her performance.

Through Elizabeth, Haynes critiques the sensationalization of true crime. When creators exploit real-life tragedies for shocking headlines or dramatic TV and film content, audiences consume them for entertainment. “May December” draws attention to this cycle, showing us the film Elizabeth is making is not even the first one about the subject. Previous soap operas and documentaries have already made the couple into media icons.

At one point, Elizabeth sorts through tabloid magazines and newspaper articles about Gracie’s affair with the young Joe. Instead of examining the stories themselves, perhaps even showing a hint of discomfort at the power dynamics, Elizabeth studies Gracie’s appearance. Looking at herself in the mirror, she tries to evoke Gracie in herself.

Elizabeth later allows Gracie to do her makeup routine on her. All captured in a single shot as the women look into a mirror, the static camera makes no excuses for Elizabeth; her dedication to becoming Gracie, to finding the “truth,” is entirely surface-level. She is unconcerned with the real darkness standing next to her so long as she has material for her movie.

Portman’s role as Elizabeth is one of her greatest performances to date. She plays the character with such anti-charisma that you can immediately understand how superficial Elizabeth is. The way Portman delivers the line “Thank you. That means the world,” to a character who complements one of Elizabeth’s roles is darkly hilarious in its vapidness.

Portman acts alongside Moore, who effectively understates her character by portraying her as quirky and genial. Gracie’s apparent “niceness” only strengthens her power over Joe. She diminishes his trauma by convincing herself that her actions were all out of love for him. Moore gives Gracie an overwhelming presence by skillfully tapping into her casual evil.

Yet, the heart of the film lies with Melton, portraying a person whose experience is repeatedly trivialized and downplayed by other characters. Melton carries himself like a helpless child. He delivers lines in a low tone with long spaces between words as if he is being restrained.

Rather than a victim in a tabloid news story, told from a distance to the actual subject, Melton’s character feels like a real person whose life we see intimately. His supporting performance is one of the finest of the year.

Haynes brings about the darkness of his character dynamics with stylish camerawork. He and cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt reinforce the duality of his characters through mirror imagery, both with mirrors themselves as well as through shots of two people in different parts of the frame. Elizabeth and Gracie are reflections of each other, for instance, sharing exploitative impulses.

To the same effect as the desaturated color palette of Payne’s legal biopic “Dark Waters,” the contrast in soft and grim colors in “May December” alerts us to abuse lying underneath. The soft and warm light of Savannah introduces us to the false, idealized existence of the characters. Haynes and Blauvelt crack away at this surface later on, with key confrontation scenes taking place in shadowy rooms lit ominously by lamps.

Driven by three outstanding central performances, “May December” satirizes a celebrity culture that is dangerously fascinated with controversial figures and elevates them to stardom. But Haynes’ latest is primarily a haunting tragedy about the consequences of turning real victims into stories for our entertainment. “May December” is nothing short of a modern-day masterpiece.

Published on December 5, 2023 at 10:42 pm