May Retrospective: "A New Leaf" (1971)

by Cláudio Alves

A master comedian of immense historical importance, a Tony Award-winning stage actress, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and one of the greatest American directors of the 1970s. Those are portentous descriptors, each of them difficult to earn individually during a lifetime. For someone to deserve them all is astounding, but astounding is an ever-appropriate word to categorize Elaine May.

She remains a genius through-and-through and, despite her career as a movie director having been abruptly halted in the late 80s, many are devoted to the celebration of her directorial legacy to this day. If you need any proof that Hollywood has little respect for the talent of female directors, look no further than the example of Elaine May whose filmography we are here honoring. After all, what better time to sing the praises of May than during the merry month of May?

First up, we have 1971's A New Leaf…

The first feature-lenght movie Elaine May ever directed tells the story of Henry Graham, a callous playboy of great wealth who, one day, finds himself destitute. As he is accustomed to living life in unashamed luxury, Graham must ask for money and ends up agreeing to a shady deal with his rich uncle. That's how he finds himself seducing a wealthy woman who he finds utterly repulsive and intends to murder as soon as possible after their impromptu wedding.

Walter Matthau plays the odious protagonist while May herself gives life to the clumsy mess that is Henrietta Lowell, his botanist wife. Theirs are a duo of unimprovable performances, both actors giving themselves over to the comedic demands of the script. He's a miracle of oily malevolence, a bored American aristocrat, indolent and prickly. She, on the other hand, is endearingly weird, almost grotesque but always funny to observe in pitiful helplessness. Better yet, they play amazingly well together, developing peculiar chemistry of witless romantic antagonism.

In between murder schemes and overt manipulations, Henry finds himself living a purposeful life rather than an aimless one, contributing to the picture's strange tonalities of tragicomedy, pitch-black humor and romantic tropes. When they saw the results of May's efforts, the creatively myopic producers panicked and forced the director to heavily edit her work, erasing two murders and making the ending into a happy affair. While the picture may have been butchered, it still works and is a near-masterpiece of psychopathic cinema, a flick of supreme bleakness giving way to oddball mirth.

You can rent or buy A New Leaf on Amazon, Youtube, Google Play, and VUDU. Don't miss this daring black comedy of murderous intent, shameless cruelty, and endearing eccentricity.