‘May December’ a sharp study of the deception beneath two women’s intelligent facades

An actor (Natalie Portman, left) shadows the woman she’s about to play, a mom (Julianne Moore) married to a much younger man she had sex with when he was 13 in “May December.” (Netflix)

In the opening scene in Todd Haynes’ delightfully twisted social satire “May December,” Julianne Moore’s Gracie is in the kitchen of her beautiful Savannah, Georgia, home, fretting about this and that as she preps to host a barbecue, with most of the guests already out back.

        This Gracie, she’s a passive-aggressive force who can create a piece of drama out of nothing.