Released: 1st February
Seen: 13th February
In 1997, Mary Kay Letourneau pleaded guilty to 2 counts of second-degree rape of a child. The child in question was 12-year-old Vili Fualaau and what made this case turn into the stuff of tabloid legend was that not only would Mary Kay go on to give birth to Fualaau’s child while in prison (two of them throughout the relationship, but one specifically was born during her initial prison sentence) but they would eventually get married and remain married for 14 years, until 2019. The entire story was everything that the tabloids love, it had sex, intrigue, lying, and a hint of a taboo romance that created an epic drama that people could follow. Everyone who was around then heard at least one or two comics making jokes about how lucky Vili in particular was to be in a situation where an older woman had sex with him, it was the ultimate water cooler topic for ages… and in the center of it all were two people, one of whom was a victim who didn’t get his story told. Sadly, May December doesn’t tell his story as it probably could’ve, but using the Letourneau/Fualaau story as a springboard it weaves a darkly fascinating tale of its own.
May December puts the audience in the eyes of Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman), an actress about to embark on the task of portraying a woman named Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) who is living a seemingly perfect quiet suburban life with her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton). Of course, the thing that makes Grace and Joe different is that they started their ‘relationship’ when Joe was 13 and Grace was 36, but now it’s 23 years later and the two of them are just trying to live something close to a normal life. However, the longer Elizabeth stays, the more she starts interrogating their strange relationship and the more the darkness underneath the surface starts emerging. It’s almost like a relationship that starts with an obvious case of statutory rape might not be the steadiest relationship out there.
May December wants you to feel uncomfortable, almost from the second it starts, that’s its obvious goal. Everything from the apparent perfection of the opening scenes to the dark and twisted ending is meant to make the audience feel ill-at-ease and it does that brilliantly. Every moment is just filled with tension that derives from the fact that no one is daring to call out the thing that’s in front of us all. In suburbia, no one wants to make waves so they all try to act like Grace and Joe are perfectly normal, even though the discomfort is felt by anyone looking in on them. The longer the film goes on, the more layers get slowly peeled back one by one, the more the subtext becomes text and we get to see how truly upsetting this situation can become.
Everything in May December is almost played as intentionally surface level as you could get, the performances are straight out of a campy melodrama where everyone’s putting on vocal affectations for no reason and there’s dramatic music stings with every revelation. It feels like something out of a trashy soap opera at times, at least at first. Of course the more the film maintains that tone the more that it allows the cruel reality of the situation to seep in. There’s a strange dark humour at the start, like everyone’s telling a twisted joke that we don’t fully understand but the longer everything goes on the less funny the joke is and the audience just has to sit in the harsh reality of what’s going on.
The brilliance of May December is how it holds off on passing judgment for so long, longer than probably anyone should. It almost lets it feel like this is a normal couple, they have their problems but this is normal for them…almost, eventually it will just call out what is going on and without holding back, the final act of this piece delivers a chance for everyone involved to bring everything they have and they make damn sure they do what’s needed.
Obviously, the core of May December revolves around the two female leads, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore just bouncing off each other in such fascinating ways. The scenes where Elizabeth (Natalie) is just trying to learn how to act like Gracie (Julianne) are some of the most fascinating scenes, two powerhouse actresses going toe to toe and trying to match each other’s strange intensity is truly jaw-dropping to watch. They’re also both playing incredibly manipulative characters and you can almost feel them trying to use that power against each other, like a tug of war for who is actually in control the whole time and they make every scene together electrifying.
The real surprise of May December, and the one who easily belongs in the “Snubbed at the Oscars” category, is Charles Melton who managed to make Joe into one of the most fascinating characters even with his sadly limited screen time. While the character of Joe is meant to be in his 30s, the more you watch the more it becomes clear that he’s almost frozen as a 13-year-old who never got a chance to live an actual normal life. From experiences he never got to have to just the childlike innocence that is somehow still visible to the awkward skulking about, while he might not be the full focus of the film it’s remarkable how well he can pull focus from even superstars like Julianne Moore.
Honestly, the last 30 minutes of May December is just an exercise in how many times Melton can completely steal the film, because he does it with such extreme shifts in performance that it’s spellbinding. Up until now, Melton has mostly been known for his work in Riverdale, this film proves that one day we’ll be talking about him as an Oscar-winning performer because he can easily handle any role handed to him.
May December is a glorious over-dramatic story about people trying to treat something horrible as though it were perfectly normal and how that is impossible to maintain. It’s dark and twisted and fascinatingly crafted. It’s definitely not a film that’s going to be enjoyable to everyone, its dark subject matter alone will be enough to make some people stay away, but if given the chance and you’re in the right mood this dark little drama can make for one fascinating time.
Movie Meister Reviews 