I shocked my wife when I admitted I didn’t know what a “May December” was. I’d never heard the phrase before. Typically, it refers to a relationship between a younger man (May) and an older woman (December).

Gracie Atherton (Julianne Moore) is the older woman who, at the age of 36, had an affair with thirteen-year-old Joe (Charles Melton) — not so much the younger man as a child. When the movie starts, it’s been twenty-four years since that moment. Gracie and Joe are still together, the parents of three children — one just finishing college (born in prison) and twins, about to enter College, who were conceived after their parents were legally married. Enter Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), a TV actor cast to play Gracie in an upcoming independent film. She’s come to Savannah, Georgia (the Atherton-Yoo’s home) to spend time with the family, especially Gracie. But her presence starts to dredge up old memories and difficult emotions.

This is peak psychological drama: the performances are perfectly pitched. The direction is refined and meticulous. The pacing is slow but never ponderous. The broader themes are delicately teased out. Yes, it’s understated and cold, but that reflects Gracie, who has spent the last two decades living a delusion. She believes Joe, the thirteen-year-old, was the one who seduced her but also feels that their relationship is perfectly normal (and it would be if they’d met when Joe was in his twenties; it would be a genuine May December). Elizabeth Berry is also a profoundly insecure person who, like Gracie, gets a kick manipulating other people. 

When they’re together, it’s unnerving, two women who loathe each other and yet are alike in ways neither can articulate. Or would want too. As evidenced by the make-up scene (that’s where the image for the poster comes from), redolent with repressed violence, sexuality and hatred.

At stages, you think things will erupt, will come to a head… and they almost do… but never quite. And that lack of release makes May December such a confronting viewing experience.