Review: “December in May” opens New York Film Festival with powerful performances from Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton

The young actress will play in a biopic about a woman whose fame is associated with sexual deviations. That’s the premise of Todd Haynes’ latest film, May December, which opens the venerable New York Film Festival this week.

Gracie (Julianne Moore), a baker and housewife from Savannah, now married to her much younger lover with whom she has college-age twins, is so abused that she gets a box of crap at the beginning and spends most of the film dealing with the pain are ostracized. When Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) arrives to record her role, the two women dance a pas de deux of cautious friendliness as Gracie demonstrates her cake-making skills, her beauty tips and her power over her family. Poignant music keeps the viewer in suspense: who is playing whom?

Or how much research does an actor really need to do to play a role? Joe, now 36, was not yet a teenager when he and Gracie first had sex. As he plunges into a guilt-driven relationship, he becomes the center of the film.

Presenting the film at Alice Tully Hall, director Todd Haynes made that clear by highlighting Charles Melton’s outstanding performance. With a nod to his composer Marcelo Zarvos, he talked about leading musical events, a technique taken from a classic film he saw on TMC, “The Go-Between.” In the end, we don’t really like Gracie either, although the film offers an exceptional look at changing views on a “distasteful” topic.

“December in May” features superb performances from Moore and Portman – the festival features actresses who are sure to win awards this year: Emma Stone in “Poor People,” for example, and the wonderful Sandra Haller, star of both “Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall.” These women are worth watching in richly drawn roles.