In this sharp new romantic drama from director Todd Haynes, a sly battle of wills ensues when an actress (Natalie Portman) spends time with the housewife (Julianne Moore) she’s been hired to portray: a former tabloid queen whose shocking affair with an underage schoolboy made headlines 20 years earlier. The once-illicit lovers are married now, with a couple of kids, but the legacy of the scandal still stirs up a tangled web of emotions. Where is the line between research and flirtation, between naiveté and delusion? Where does assumption end and judgment begin? No stranger to the complexity of relationships, Haynes of Far from Heaven and Carol fame, once again resists easy answers, instead offering plenty of stunning revelations, with family secrets revealed, surprise motivations surfaced, and audience expectations engrossingly subverted. – Sterling Hedgpeth

Director: Todd Haynes (US 2023) 117 min.