Julianne Moore speaks out on gender expectations at Cannes 2023

Hollywood star Julianne Moore recently attended the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of her film, May December. Following the Saturday screening, Moore and Natalie Portman attended a press conference in order to discuss May December. During the conversation, she spoke about the expectations from women at the Cannes Film Festival. 

The Magnolia star said that how women are expected to behave at Cannes is different from how men are expected to be. She added that the expectations vary in terms of how one looks and how they choose to carry themselves. It alters the behaviour in women whether they’re for it or against it, concluded Moore. 

“Even here, the different ways we, as women, are expected to behave at this festival even compared to men… how we’re supposed to look, how we’re supposed to carry ourselves,” said the Evolution actress. “The expectations are different on you all the time. It affects how you behave, whether you are buying into or rejecting it. You’re defined by the social structures upon you,” added Julianne Moore. 

Natalie Portman on the humanity of the May December characters

Natalie Portman also spoke about how fortunate she feels for playing a character in May December who is complex in her own right, and "simply human". She said that her character, along with Julianne Moore's, are complex women, who are "full of delicious conflicts". “It’s incredible to get to be part of a film like this, which has two complex women characters who are full of delicious conflicts,” said Portman. 

Moore also added that women are not a minority group throughout the world. She gave the statistic that the population of women on the global scale is 50%, and urged that women are treated with respect to that fact. "Women are not a minority group. We’re 50% of the population. So it’s important we’re treated as such," she said. May December premiered at Cannes on May 20.