MAY DECEMBER (2023) review
written by: Samy Burch (screenplay/story) and Alex Mechanik (story)
produced by: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Christine Vachon, Pamela Koffler, Natalie Portman, Sophie Mas, Grant S. Johnson & Tyler W. Konney
directed by: Todd Haynes
rating: R (for some sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language)
runtime: 113 min.
U.S. release date: November 17, 2023 (theatrical) and December 1, 2023 (Netflix)
When stories of a female elementary teacher having sex with a student hit the news in the States, there has been understandable immediate outrage. While nothing justifies such activity with a minor, rarely do we see any reporting that would give us an idea as to why an adult would behave in such a manner. At least none that I can recall. What will be remembered is the crime, the arrests, and any sentencing involved, but I know I’m not the only one who ponders the mental state or stability of such behavior from an adult. Later on, it may be reported that the teacher experienced trauma in previous relationships or her childhood, offering potential context that led to her criminal activity. With that in mind, it’s also natural to wonder what has become of the criminal and the victim years later, especially when such activity produced children.
Such high-profile stories are often fodder for made-for-TV movies, like when Penelope Ann Miller starred as Mary Kay Letourneau in the 2000 USA Network movie, “All-American Girl: The Mary Kay Letourneau Story”. Letourneau was a sixth-grade teacher who pled guilty in 1997 to two counts of second-degree rape of her 12-year-old student. That was a story that was covered by various media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, People magazine, and even an exclusive from Barbara Walters, long after the conviction.
For her research, Miller corresponded with Letourneau while she was in prison to help develop her role. That’s what we see happening in “May December”, the latest film from director Todd Haynes, in which Natalie Portman plays an actress who visits a character similar to Letournau played by Julianne Moore, to research and study the past and present of this woman and those impacted by her actions. With these two Oscar-winning leads and such a premise in the hands of Haynes (who is no stranger to soapy melodrama) “May December” is certainly an intriguing endeavor. Haynes creates an atmosphere that’s accentuated with uneasiness as Samy Burch’s fascinating screenplay gradually peels the layers back of characters that have either been manipulated or are manipulators.
In 2015, popular actress Elizabeth Berry (Portman) travels to Savannah, Georgia, to meet sex offender, Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Moore), to do research for her upcoming role in an independent film that revolves around a sexual relationship Gracie had back in 1992 with a sixth grader when she was his teacher. That relationship continues to this day, with Gracie and Joe Yoo (Charles Melton in a standout performance) now married and having produced three children, one of which, Honor (Piper Curda), was delivered while Gracie was in prison. The other two, Mary (Elizabeth Yu) and Charlie (Gabriel Chung) are twins who are about to go off to college. Elizabeth arrives prepared to delve into Gracie’s established world, just as the couple are preparing to celebrate high school graduation.
Elizabeth hopes to get as close as possible to Gracie and understand her mindset and behavior, then and now. Doing so will require her to visit her home and meet Gracie’s family and interview locals who know her and the scandal that started 23 years ago. That leads to Elizabeth meeting Gracie’s ex-husband, Tom (D.W. Moffett), and adult children from her first marriage, such as the troubled, Georgie (Corey Michael Smith). While Gracie has agreed to the whole process, she wasn’t prepared for Elizabeth’s deep probing and we soon see the toll it has on her family, but specifically Gracie’s anxiety, something she’s managed to maintain publicly for years.
Right from the start, Haynes establishes that he won’t be focusing on subtleties as he sets the tone for “May December” with a soap opera score from Marcelo Zarvos. The composer adapted and re-orchestrated the soundtrack from Joseph Losey’s 1971 British period piece, “The Go-Betweens” from the late Michel Legrand, which is one of a handful of films that Haynes influenced this one. Dramatic music cues are often paired with dramatic angles or close-ups from cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (whom director and friend of Haynes, Kelly Reichardt, recommended), as well as camera zooms. Other films that greatly inspire Haynes approach here are Bergman’s “Persona” and Schlesinger’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, which explore two women (one an actress) becoming entwined with each other and a May-December relationship involving three people, respectively. The music establishes and reinforces the story’s melodrama and the camera decisions enhance the emotional upheaval caused by Elizabeth’s research.
As Haynes introduces us to each character, there are hints of their motivations and true nature. When Elizabeth first encounters Gracie’s world, she is welcomed to her home during a backyard cookout where her concern is whether or not there’s enough food to feed all the guests. Elizabeth brings a package she found on Gracie’s front door and learns that it is one of many boxes of excrement that Gracie has received over the years, showing how there continue to be disapproving strangers sending pungent hate mail. Elizabeth is shocked by this, but Gracie thinks nothing of it as Joe casually dispenses the package like it’s trash of their own.
The first half of “May December” finds us getting acquainted with the Savannah environment alongside Elizabeth. She learn that Gracie has spent much of her time raising children with Joe and has recently been selling baked goods to locals, while Joe works in radiology at a nearby healthcare facility. At home, Joe spends a good deal of time carefully looking after monarch butterflies. The local townfolk are taken aback by the presence of a star (who is supposedly known for a “Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman” type of show hilariously titled “Norah’s Ark”) and the camera goes into slow-mode as Elizabeth walks the hallway of the local high school with teen boys tripping over themselves as she glides by.
Gracie’s high-school-age-children are initially starstruck as well (as are their friends) but when Elizabeth volunteers for a Q&A sit-down with Mary’s acting class, that starstruck feeling starts to fade into awkwardness when a snickering teen asks Elizabeth about sex scenes. Rather than be embarrassed by the question, Elizabeth leans into it and goes into a casual explanation about her approach to these scenes that borders on seduction and leaves the room in uncomfortable silence. Mary listens intently as Elizabeth answers a “How do you choose your roles?” question. She explains that when she is lucky enough to choose her roles, she ideally is “…looking for characters that may be difficult on the surface to understand. I want to take a persona and try to figure out – Why are they like this? Were they born or made? And that could really run the gamut, you know, from the more notorious, uh…to just anyone.”
When she finishes answering that question, it’s as if Elizabeth and Mary are the only two in the room. Mary doesn’t miss a beat, asking the final question, “Why would you want to play someone who you think has done something bad?” It’s clear in this moment that Mary is referring to her mother and Elizabeth’s reason for even being in Savannah. We as viewers know that actors enjoy playing morally ambiguous characters and Elizabeth lights up as she responds, dropping character names like Madea and Hedda Gabler as examples of complex roles, stating, “moral grey areas are what’s interesting”. The whole scene is tremendous, with Burch’s dialogue and Haynes direction paired in an absorbing manner, and as it ends we see Mary suppressing her response to Elizabeth’s answer.
Elizabeth has mesmerizing individual encounters with Gracie and Joe that border on awkward seduction all in the name of research. She studies Gracie as she applies makeup in front of her vanity, taking notes and mimicking her subject. Gracie faces her directly and applies makeup to Elizabeth’s face, figuring the best way to learn is if she did it herself. It’s a way in which Gracie can have some kind of control over the agreement, as she begins to feel like Elizabeth’s presence is felt everywhere. When Elizabeth interviews Joe at his place of work, she points out how coincidental it is that she is the same age Gracie was when he was a sixth grader, followed by a beautiful smile and a pause. What’s Joe to do with this information? He’s polite about allowing her access to their life, but something is happening internally with Joe during this process. She has no qualms when it comes to the lengths she’ll go to for her research, which Haynes uses to add a layer of mystery to the story.
When Elizabeth visits the pet store where Gracie and Joe first connected on a physical level, she learns that it has changed owners after all the tabloid coverage. It’s still a pet store though and when Elizabeth asks to see the back room where it all began, the new owner awkwardly relents. Haynes captures Portman as she sits against the store’s back door, portraying Elizabeth in an improvisational trance, as she imagines the boy’s hands all over her body. It’s an uneasy scene, but it is also quite mesmerizing, as we watch an actor tap into an actor imagining the pivotal experience of her subject. It’s one of many indications where viewers are privy to Elizabeth’s sole intentions. This isn’t a story in which Elizabeth will learn something about herself or wind up humanizing Gracie. She’s there to adapt, sifting what she learns depending on what use it has for her role.
Both lead actresses are fantastic in their parts. While Portman’s role is front and center in “May December”, Moore has a tricky role in that we’re trying to figure Gracie out simultaneously with Elizabeth. She has her specific quirks that start quite subtly, yet Moore gradually reveals Gracie’s anxieties and frustration, unraveling her typically collected persona. However, the truly noteworthy work is from Melton as Joe. He’s the character viewers will have the most sympathy for. Surprisingly, he is the one who is impacted the most by Elizabeth’s visit. He begins to question what transpired so many years ago and what his relationship with Gracie even is, along with who he is as a person and father. Milton has such an amazing and tender scene in which Joe is sitting alongside his son, Charlie, on their roof smoking weed. It’s a bonding and vulnerable moment that Milton nails with just the right frequency. Because he’s the heart of the film, it’s heartbreaking to watch.
Throughout “May December” there are several uncomfortably awkward and unsettling moments that are quite convincing despite Haynes’s heightened melodrama. It’s a testament to Burch’s screenplay, which acutely provides convincing characterization in which each character can be seen as real people (especially the three central characters). It’s impressive that this is Burch’s first screenplay (Alex Mechanik receives story credit), having spent most of her career thus far as a casting director. It becomes clear that such a story won’t be offering any satisfying conclusions since Elizabeth’s presence surfaces painful feelings of shame and anxiety that have been held back for years. Still, the journey Burch and Haynes set these complex characters on is fascinating and the acting is phenomenal.
RATING: ****
