Mary Kay Letourneau served as some of the inspiration for Samy Burch’s writing for the film “May December.” But even going into the theater without any idea about the plot, the movie has a disturbing atmosphere from the opening shot.
“May December” follows Gracie (Julianne Moore), a woman who worked at a pet store and groomed one of her coworkers in what she views as having had an “affair”; Joe (Charles Melton), the coworker, was a seventh grader at the time. At the time the movie takes place, Gracie and Joe are married and have three kids. Joe is 36 years old, just like Gracie was when she met him.
Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is an actress who has come to learn as much about the situation as possible because she will be playing Gracie in her upcoming film. At first, the audience sees Elizabeth observing the situation from the outside and making moral judgments, but later it is shown that Elizabeth might be as twisted as Gracie is. There is a scene where both women mimic each other and are almost identical while looking in the mirror; the cinematography directly references the Swedish film Persona (1966), which also deals with identity and how morally sound humans are.
Furthermore, Elizabeth has a disturbing Q&A scene with high school students, and we, the audience, have to completely reevaluate her. Every time Elizabeth reveals herself to be more like Gracie than the opposite, the audience loses another level of moral superiority. This especially considering that Gracie does not admit that there is anything wrong with her actions because there is not a morally sound character that represents the audience and delivers the moral judgment.
The film never reveals Gracie’s intentions or her past and every time the audience feels like they have “figured out” where her wretchedness lies, the plot takes a turn and we are left with another unnerving feeling.
Joe spends his free time taking care of caterpillars until they become butterflies. Meanwhile, Gracie hunts animals. This represents that Joe’s nature is caring and gentle, and Gracie is a predator. Joe worries about his children and isnaif and confused when it comes to his life. Overall, Melton’s performance is captivating, and there is nothing left to do but feel tremendous sadness for his character throughout the film. Melton delivers the feelings and emotions of a child who was abused and never got to grow up.
The film’s poster reveals that there are some identity overlaps in the relationship between Julianne Moore’s and Natalie Portman’s characters, almost as if they are the same person, even though the title is concerned with the relationship between the young (May, as at the beginning of the year) and the old (December, the last month of the year.)
The film also hints at the morality of Hollywood creating biopics of people’s lives. They monetize them and the audience gets a kick, but people like Joe’s character are the ones living the life that they have made a “drama” from. Joe says it in the film in response to Elizabeth: “This is not ‘like those stories’, this is my life.”
Overall, “May December” is a psychological thriller, but it reads like a horror movie. The subject is intrinsically dark, and the atmosphere is filled with unpredictability and uneasiness, and, occasionally, it is purely disturbing.
The film has been nominated for one Oscar, but Charles Melton has been snubbed for a nomination. His out-performance of the already star-studded cast and the intensity of the film prove that he can stand his own and he deserves to be in the conversation with the other nominated supporting actors.
