May December (15)

★★★★ "Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman revel in Todd Haynes’s wildly enjoyable, deliciously kitsch tale of a woman with a scandal in her past and the film actor who’s going to play her." ~ Daily Telegraph.

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With a trifecta of stunning performances from Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, Todd Haynes effortlessly combines classical melodrama with contemporary preoccupations of celebrity and scandal.

From the outside, Gracie and Joe are the perfect suburban couple. That is, if you don’t take into account the fact that their relationship was a tabloid sensation 20 years ago.

When Elizabeth, an actor, arrives at their home to research for a role in a film based on Gracie, it becomes clear that the couple’s relationship isn’t as strong as they’d like to believe. As the truth begins to unspool, and Elizabeth immerses herself in her role, it becomes clear that she’s not the only one acting. What is the truth to Gracie and Joe’s relationship? And is Elizabeth’s presence complicating things even further?

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★★★★✭ Todd Haynes' deliciously dark melodrama sees Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman go head-to-head as a housewife and the woman tasked with playing her in a film. ~ Little White Lies.

★★★★★ A thrilling psychological tennis-match, the Oscar winners are brilliant in  Haynes’s disturbing and fascinatingly-layered Hollywood tale about consent, denial and exploitation. ~ The Telegraph.

★★★★★ Todd Haynes’s new film is brilliant. But should you really be enjoying it? Haynes plays wicked games with our appetite for the tabloid cycle in one of the best films of 2023.~ The Irish Times.

★★★★★ His campy black comedy has the makings of a classic. ~ The i.