Performance of Complicity
| Title: | May December |
| Watchable: |  |
| Director: | Todd Haynes |
| Writer: | Samy Burch |
| Lead Performances: | Natalie Portman (Elizabeth Berry), Julianne Moore (Gracie Atherton-Yoo), Charles Melton (Joe Yoo) |
The pet store stockroom scene in "May December" shows Elizabeth attempting seduction through exact reenactments of her twenty-year-old self which caused my entire body to shudder. The way I responded to the situation developed from my observation of how people try to understand others by repeating their traumatic events.
Todd Haynes masterfully guides the uncomfortable dance between actress and subject throughout the entire film. Elizabeth travels to Savannah for academic research purposes while she keeps a safe distance from the disturbing subjects she investigates. Natalie Portman duplicates Julianne Moore's complete body language and speaking style and head movements to show she is observing Gracie as a whole person. The process described above does not accurately describe what happens. She joins the same false beliefs which enabled this family to construct their existence.
The movie prevents viewers from finding stable positions in their moral judgments. The movie presents fresh content which makes audience members doubt their previous interpretations of character connections. Gracie describes her relationship with Joe through typical wife-like language yet Joe was only seven years old when they started dating. She explains the scandal through everyday language by using repeated words which seem to come from someone else. The family shows their actual wickedness through their regular daily activities. The family members spend their time eating together while they argue about school attire and share marijuana in the garage. The family constructed their entire existence by hiding an unmentionable truth.
The way Charles Melton performed in the film left me with enduring emotional damage which I watched Joe Melton deliver his lines with complete immobility because he learned to remain motionless to stay hidden from view. His expression reveals hidden knowledge from many years when he stands before Gracie to accuse her of theft. The words to express his loss remain elusive to him.
The way he treats his children produces the most painful effect on me. The high school graduation ceremony brings back memories of his seventh-grade year but he never experienced that age because of what happened. He experiences these life events together with his children instead of preceding them. Through his dual role as father and child he exists outside his natural time sequence.
Elizabeth believes she uncovers authentic facts yet she actually develops another theatrical performance which extends the cycle of exploitation. The film achieves its brilliance by making viewers participate in its narrative. We observe this situation because we want to learn about the events while feeling confident that our beliefs differ from those who accepted this scandal during its peak twenty years ago. But are we?
The unpredictable way the dramatic score plays in the film creates an unexpected effect because it interrupts our ability to follow the story. The music creates a mix of camp and sincerity through its performance. The musical notes create a deceptive emotional response because they force us to find suitable emotions for processing this disturbing material.
The final picture shows Elizabeth standing on a film set where she perfectly resembles Gracie. She has learned anything from this experience or she has discovered a new method to display someone else's scars. The reflections produce an infinite loop of duplicated images which try to show reality but end up hiding it more deeply.
The actual terror exists in the way numerous people can use one act of violence to create their own distorted understanding of reality.
