May December review

MAY DECEMBER: 

TODD HAYNES CRAFTS A SEDUCTIVE AND RIVETING LOOK AT THE HORRIFIC EFFECTS OF ABUSE AND MANIPULATION! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

NETFLIX

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in May December

 

            An actress travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of a controversial woman she is set to play in a film in May December, the new film from Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol, Dark Waters) currently in a limited theatrical release and will land on Netflix next month. The film is loosely based on the real-life story of Mary Kay Letourneau, a sex offender who was charged with second-degree rape of a child whom she eventually married and remained married with for 14 years, I didn’t even know the film was inspired by those events until I got home. 

            Because of that, I didn’t get to look into all the key details about what really happened and only skimmed information about the person. I don’t know how accurate the film is but given that it’s only loosely based on the events, it probably doesn’t matter much. 

            All I have to say is, Wow! This is a remarkable and often unpredictable outing from Todd Haynes that exceeded my expectations in just about every way. 

            The film follows Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman-Black Swan, Thor franchise, Jackie), an actress who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore-The Kids Are All Right, Crazy Stupid Love, Still Alice) before portraying her in a movie. The tabloid that covered Gracie’s controversial romance with her 23 years her junior husband Joe (Charles Melton-Riverdale, The Sun Is Also a Star, Bad Boys for Life) shocked the nation and now 20 years later, a movie is being made based on it. 

            As Elizabeth starts to spend time with them and their kids, Joe begins to confront the reality of life as an empty-nester at age 36 with their children’s high school graduation underway and the similarities and differences between Elizabeth and Gracie start to become clear. 

            The film also stars Cory Michael Smith (Gotham, Carol, First Man) as George Atherton, D.W. Moffett (Falling Down, Traffic, Thirteen) as Tom Atherton, Piper Curda (The Flash, The Wretched, Back on the Strip) as Honor Atherton-Yoo, and Elizabeth Yu (Somewhere in Queens, Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024)) as Mary Atherton-Yoo. 

            Overall, May December is a bold and relevant cinematic experience that effectively crafts a mesmerizing erotic thriller-drama out of its unsettling fact-based subject matter. Even though the movie is based on real-life events, it constantly keeps the audience guessing of what’s going to happen by the end of it, where the story is going, and even what the characters’ motivations are. 

            Natalie Portman’s Elizabeth’s motivations aren’t very clear and you’re asking if she genuinely is interested in Gracie’s story or simply trying to exploit real trauma and show Gracie as the monster that she is. I think the film is very clever about leaving all of this mostly vague and up to the audience to piece together or interpret. 

            Despite Julianne Moore’s Gracie’s good-natured exterior, you do see how manipulative she truly is as the film goes on like when she’s in control of what her kids should wear or paints herself as the true victim throughout all of this and tries to project herself as a misunderstood woman who simply made a mistake in her life to the public. 

            What especially helps with conveying these heavy themes and ideas are the film’s phenomenal performances, both Portman and Moore give amazing performances and have incredible chemistry together that I’m sure will lead to Oscar nominations (Perhaps even wins). However, the performance that really surprised me was Charles Melton as Joe who is absolutely remarkable as this man who was clearly abused and manipulated at a young age and is struggling with the after-effects of where his life has led him, a decades-long married life with his abuser and is now realizing the repercussions that came with it. 

            Melton is the one who brings the heartbreak and humanity to the film, and you want to see him come out of the situation unscathed and with his dignity. Portman and Moore were great, but Melton deserves Oscar attention this year because damn! 

            May December is the kind of film where you think it’s going to go one direction, but then it throws you for a loop and takes a completely different route with more shocks and surprises. Add on top the brilliant performances by the cast and a risky and timely story and you got yourself an experience you’ll never forget whether you’re in a theater or streaming it on Netflix.