American director stars Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in fascinating thriller May December Inspired by a true story.
At Todd Haynes, women didn’t wait for MeToo to challenge norms and take wrong paths. After lesbian love in fifties America Carol: or with an interracial romance Far from heaven Also anchored in the 1950s, the American director tells the story of two elusive women with “slippery” morals; May December. The first, an actress looking for a challenge (Natalie Portman), goes to the second, whom she is going to play. Twenty years ago, this woman (Juliana Moore) was condemned by the courts and society for her forbidden love with the teenager who has since become her husband and the father of her children. Inspired by the case of Mary Kay Letourneau, this story had everything to please Todd Haynes; a transgressive premise, two heroines that cannot be categorized, and a cinematic context, a mirror of our society.
Madame Figaro. – This project was brought to you by Natalie Portman, who is producing it. How did you personalize it?
Todd Haynes. – The connection was made immediately. When I read the script, I realized how much these characters’ relationships test my own morality. As the story continued, the ground was slipping under my feet; my gaze constantly challenged the mirror relationship of these women, the woman’s rejection of the illegality of her act, the boy’s liberation. who begins to question her consent… Since then. I wanted to control the film, to offer a performance that would allow the audience to feel that anxiety.
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In an age that no longer knows nuance, was it important to put it back at the center?
Times demand that we name and freeze everyone’s identity, but this story questions this natural tendency. It’s that gray area that I liked, that Natalie liked, and that convinced me to pitch the project to Julianne Moore, who has always avoided monotonous, overly legible characters.
Natalie Portman plays Elizabeth, a borderline actress. Does she reflect what you think of actresses?
Not at all, even if it is true that this work strains the ego and can weaken a person. What I find to be true is the frustration of not being able to escape the straitjacket. Getting rid of one’s image can be difficult. in this case, Elizabeth became famous with a very popular series and aspires to other artistic countries. This is pretty common for artists, but in real life I don’t know anyone who, like Elizabeth, doesn’t care about hurting others to achieve their goals.
There is a mirror effect between your heroines. Was there a similarity between your actresses?
Natalie and Juliana are actually quite different, but their performances would have us believe otherwise. The more the film progresses, the more Nathalie adapts to her character and grows closer to Juliana. At the beginning of filming, Julianna and I worked to characterize her character, the way she spoke, moved… Strong cues that Natalie had to accept in turn. From there, I made the mirror effect the visual manifesto of the film. My characters are constantly looking at themselves and watching others. I played with this idea in the production of directors and actors.
Natalie and Julianne are actually quite different, but their performances would have us believe otherwise
Todd Haynes
Are your movies a mirror of your soul?
They are a mirror of social language. I hope they reflect the world we live in, with its codes, its prohibitions, its morals… I try to scratch to go beyond what we see on the surface, to get away from archetypes, sometimes even if it means to create. the inconvenience. I want to present multiple realities, suggest other possibilities, question what has been achieved. I have always tried to represent women in all their complexity. And I’m challenging myself with this film. So far, my heroines have been more submissive and passive, fighting against their desire and struggling to be true to themselves. This movie is very different. their desire is the driving force and men give in to their will.
What would you say about the relationship between Julianne Moore and her husband, condemned by justice and morality?
None, because that’s exactly what the movie refuses to do, and that’s what I hope makes it interesting. I could talk to you about the complexity of their bond, their happiness, which is perhaps only illusory, the discomfort this story causes, but I want to avoid any moral judgment. Rather, the film tends to raise questions we often refuse to ask ourselves about the choices we make in life; are they correct? Was I really in control of my decisions? Is my happiness artificial? …
Where does this desire to tell stories about women come from film to film?
The place of women in society is a highly political topic that fascinates me. My generation saw the emergence of the feminist theories I learned in university that permeated the art world, preceded and influenced the queer theories I explored later in life. I have always been interested in the way in which women are perceived alternately as object and subject. men reserve the right to make themselves the object of desire and subjugation and, paradoxically, to place the burden solely on their own shoulders. the family and the couple are afloat to raise children… But imagining them active and powerful outside this domestic sphere is still difficult in society, and in fiction at that. On the contrary, the stories told by men are often about escape, physical or psychological, from underworlds, crime, in other words, freedom and transgression. Women should also be able to claim it in life as well as on screen.
May DecemberWith Todd Haynes, Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, Charles Melton… In theaters January 24.
Source: Le Figaro
