The movie “May December,” directed by Todd Haynes, is based loosely on the 1990s tabloid scandal involving Mary Kay Letourneau, a schoolteacher who had with 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau,
got pregnant by him twice, gave birth to their second child while serving time for second-degree child rape, and eventually married Fualaau.
One line of dialogue tells you a lot about the film. (In Haynes’s adaptation, penned by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik, Julianne Moore portrays Letourneau’s post-jail stand-in, Gracie, approximately 24 years after the was first made public.
Charles Melton plays Joe, her grown husband, with whom Grace has three teenage children, not two. The adapted version of the film states that Gracie and Joe, who was 13 at the time, worked at a pet store where the abuse started.)
The line in question appears near the end of the movie, which is organised around the idea that Gracie is the subject of a movie.
The actress cast to play Natalie Portman’s Elizabeth, Gracie, has travelled to Savannah, Georgia, for research purposes.
This is where Gracie and Joe reside. Gracie and Joe’s relationship begins to deteriorate due to Elizabeth’s presence, which finally results in a betrayal.
Joe finally starts to consider what to everyone else is obvious during the late-night confrontation that follows: He might not have been mature enough to make the decisions he did as a 13-year-old boy.
This realisation brings Joe to tears. Gracie accusingly responds, “You seduced me,” in a classic case of self-deception. “Who was in command?” she asks. “Who held the reins?”
Indeed, there are many instances of dishonesty and self-delusion throughout the movie—not just from Gracie, but also from Elizabeth.
Upon delving deeper into Gracie’s psychology, behaviours, and family background, the actress uncovers a trail strewn with broken hearts: not just Gracie and Joe,
but also their children and Gracie’s children from her previous marriage, one of whom (Cory Michael Smith) acknowledges that his mother’s actions “ruined” his life.
Even before it is posed, the question “Who was in charge?” resounds throughout the movie.
We first see Gracie and Joe in the opening scene, where they are getting ready for a family cookout. The dynamic initially appears unclear, more akin to that of a mother and her son than a wife and her husband.
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman on the left in “May December.” (Netflix/François Duhamel)
However, Haynes is the real answer to the query of who is in charge.
The director manipulates the audience like an accordion throughout the whole movie, pulling, tugging, and squeezing us into experiencing various emotions like disgust, ironic laughter, bewilderment, voyeuristic guilt, and sincere curiosity.
The film’s soundtrack is so obtrusive and dramatic—piano and strings—that it’s difficult to know if we should laugh or roll our eyes.
It sounds like something from a dated, bad soap opera. But it’s clear that the intention is to provoke. Nothing about “May December” is accidental; it exposes Gracie’s prejudices as well as those of the audience and our own.
Story continues beneath the pop-up.
However, there are a tonne of questions. First of all, Will Ferrell? One could assume this is a comedy because it features the comedian’s Gloria Sanchez Productions, the film’s production company,
and silly films like “Strays,” “Theatre Camp,” and “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” However, it’s an odd subject for drama, let alone satire.
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“May December” has moments when it seems like a questioning of the elusive nature of truth. Elizabeth continues to defend her visit to Gracie’s house as a research endeavour in an effort to record “something true.”
She also insisted on repeatedly reshooting a corny seduction scene with a live snake during the filming of the movie, even after she had learned to speak with Gracie’s slight,
childlike lisp and had left her fact-finding mission with a handwritten copy of one of Gracie’s embarrassingly adolescent love letters to Joe.
This was after she had finally started shooting the movie. With each shivering glance, she says, it seems like it’s becoming more real.