Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman and Charles Melton star May Decemberthe new feature film by Todd Haynes (Carol), which takes up certain elements of the Mary Kay Letourneau affair.
Mary Kay Letourneau is the teacher who was caught having a sexual relationship with one of her students, Vili Fualaau, then 12, in 1996, when she was 34 years old. Mary Kay Letourneau was arrested and convicted, served a seven and a half year sentence, and had two children by her student while incarcerated. After his release from prison, Fualaau, then an adult, requested that the no-contact order against them be lifted, and the couple married in 2005. They divorced in 2019 and Mary Kay Letourneau died of cancer in 2020.
Samy Burch’s script therefore takes up the basics of this news story, which made tabloid headlines for many years, but approaches the question from a different angle. In May December, Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) is a television actress and wants to prepare for her next role, that of Gracie. She gets to the woman she is supposed to play, Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore), who shares her life with Joe (Charles Melton) and their children. In small touches and through the questions that Elizabeth asks the various protagonists – but without flashbacks – the viewer learns the story of Gracie and Joe, the scandal, and their current lives.
To paraphrase Elizabeth, the gray areas of the characters are the most interesting. And there is no shortage of that. As she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Gracie, Elizabeth encounters a personality that is nebulous and manipulative and seemingly unaware of the impact of her past wrongdoings on her family. Because the more Elizabeth tries to capture Gracie, the more she eludes her and the viewer.
In keeping with the style he developed in “I’m Not There” and more recently in “Carol,” Todd Haynes observes his characters from a distance without ever giving the audience a chance to attach themselves to them. This voluntary withdrawal becomes unease, an uneasiness heightened by the two actresses’ diction, which is otherwise impressive, and by the use of music composed by Michel Legrand for Le Messager by Joseph Losey. Undoubtedly, “May December” is not an easy film.
May December will be in cinemas from November 17th.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5