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Women don't always have to be the good guys: Natalie Portman

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Agence France Presse

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C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></a></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cseb3Gmsgae/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank">View this post on Instagram</a></div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) 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style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><div style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cseb3Gmsgae/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Natalie Portman (@natalieportman)</a></div></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>CANNES, France - A darker side of female sexuality was on display in Cannes on Saturday in a film portraying a woman who seduced a schoolboy and built a picture-perfect life with him after a tabloid scandal.</p><p>Starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, &quot;May December&quot; takes the viewer on a rollercoaster of moral ambiguity as it looks at the couple living a life of apparent suburban bliss with their children long after they dominated headlines.</p><p>Portman takes the role of Elizabeth, an actor who spends time with the family in order to research a role playing the woman at the heart of the scandal, Gracie, played by Julianne Moore, 62.</p><p>Portman -- whose character also takes questionable decisions -- told AFP in an interview Saturday that she loved to see the women &quot;behave in morally ambiguous ways.&quot;</p><p>&quot;The entire range of human behaviour should be accessible to women because women are simply humans,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;It always drives me crazy when people are like, oh, if only women rule the world, it would be a kinder place. No, women are humans and come in all different complexities.&quot;</p><p>Portman shot to stardom at age 12 in &quot;Leon,&quot; a film by French director Luc Besson which led her to be sexualised as a child, and towards which she has said she now has complicated feelings.</p><p>The film was inspired by Besson&#x27;s relationship with French actress and director Maiwenn, who he married at 16. Maiwenn starred in and directed &quot;Jeanne du Barry&quot;, alongside Johnny Depp, which caused a scandal as it opened Cannes this year.</p><p>Besson, who directed &quot;The Fifth Element,&quot; has faced several allegations of sexual misconduct, a revelation Portman said she had found &quot;devastating,&quot; without wanting to give more details.</p><div><strong>Denial </strong></div><p>&quot;May December&quot; is among several films at Cannes this year taking a deeper dive into the inner lives of women, exploration of their sexuality, or their moral complexities.</p><p>&quot;I think that there is no limit to how much it can be explored, so I&#x27;d like to see more,&quot; said Portman.</p><p>The film is directed by American Todd Haynes, who wowed Cannes in 2015 with lesbian drama &quot;Carol,&quot; starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.</p><p>He told AFP &quot;May December&quot; explored our refusal to look at ourselves honestly.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s how we survive. I believe that we repress a lot of our desires for the best reasons. It&#x27;s how a civilized society exists by holding back.&quot;</p><p>Despite the tabloid scandal, and being on the sex offenders list for her sexual relationship with a 13-year-old, Gracie seems incapable of seeing anything wrong as she bakes cakes for her neighbours and prepares for her children&#x27;s graduation.</p><p>However, the arrival of the actor (Portman) and her probing questions strains the fairytale life the couple has built.</p><p>Haynes described &quot;May December&quot; as &quot;a very visceral piece of cinema&quot; that reminds him of older movies that had an easier time &quot;asking questions and debating the morality.&quot;</p><p>He said it was getting &quot;harder and harder to make those kinds of films&quot; with society no longer &quot;comfortable with being uncomfortable. I think that&#x27;s like the death of thinking, the death of social critique and criticism&quot;.</p>

A darker side of female sexuality was on display in Cannes on Saturday in a film portraying a woman who seduced a schoolboy and built a picture-perfect life with him after a tabloid scandal.