Cannes 2023; Todd Haynes reunited with Julianne Moore in May December, featuring Natalie Portman

The long awaited reunion between director Todd Haynes and actress Julianne Moore is upon Cannes Film Festival audiences, with the screening of May December taking place later today. The film, which is up for consideration for the Palme d’Or (“in competition”), marks also the first time Moore will take to the silver screen with another multiple Cannes Festival attendee - one Natalie Portman.

The official Cannes 2023 synopsis for the film reads: “Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.” The film would mark Haynes’ fourth feature to screen at Cannes, with perhaps his biggest feature to play at the festival 1998’s Velvet Goldmine, based in principle around the life and times of David Bowie (though without a licence to use Bowie’s name sadly.)

Julianne Moore’s appearance at Cannes Film Festival acts as a mini anniversary of sorts for the actress also; it was back in 1993 that the actress made her red stairs debut on the French Riviera as part of Robert Altman’s ensemble cast for his film Short Cuts, though Moore became part of Cannes history with her Best Actress win in 2014 for her role in Maps To The Stars.

Natalie Portman has also been a frequent guest at the festival, though her debut appearance at the film festival has been a talking point for the actress recently, and not a case of happy nostalgia either. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Portman discussed how she felt sexualised in her underage role in Leon; The Professional and looking back felt it was slightly cringe. 

“It’s a movie that’s still beloved, and people come up to me about it more than almost anything I’ve ever made, and it gave me my career.  But it is definitely, when you watch it now, it definitely has some cringey, to say the least, aspects to it. So, yes, it’s complicated for me.”

“'At 13 years old, the message from our culture was clear to me,' Portman continued regarding being sexualised. 'I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I'm someone worthy of safety and respect. The response to my expression, from small comments about my body to more deliberate statements, served to control my behaviour through an environment of sexual terrorism.”