Movie Review: MAY DECEMBER

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: December 1st, 2023 / 10:22 PM

MAY DECEMBER movie poster | ©2023 Netflix

Rating: R
Stars: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Cory Michael Smith, D.W. Moffett, Elizabeth Yu, Gabriel Chung
Writer: Samy Burch
Director: Todd Haynes
Distributor: Netflix
Release Date: December 1, 2023 (theatrical and Netflix)

MAY DECEMBER’s end credits include the standard disclaimer about any resemblance to real persons being a coincidence. That seems a bit of a stretch here, as the overall premise appears to be based on the case of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau.

Letourneau was convicted of raping Fualaau when she was age thirty-four and he was twelve or thirteen, her student in the sixth grade. She had a child by him when she was in prison and they eventually married.

In MAY DECEMBER, Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) is now in her fifties, and her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton) is now thirty-six. When Joe was in seventh grade, he became Gracie’s assistant at a local pet store. They were caught having sex, Gracie went to jail, and had their first child while she was in prison. When she served her time and Joe came of age, they got married. They still live in the same neighborhood, West Mercer Island, off the Georgia coast. Their oldest daughter is in college; their twins are about to graduate high school.

All seems calm. Joe works as a tech at a hospital, and Gracie has a home baking business. Into their lives comes Hollywood actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), who is researching her role as Gracie in an upcoming film about the case. Gracie has agreed to not only speak with Elizabeth at length, but also to let the actor speak with anyone else she wants to – provided she lets Elizabeth know in advance.

Natalie Portman as Elizabeth Berry and Julianne Moore as Gracie Atherton-Yoo in MAY DECEMBER | ©2023 Netflix

Elizabeth shades what she’s asking depending on who she’s interviewing. These people include Gracie’s still hurt and bewildered ex-husband Tom (D.W. Moffett), still bitter son from that first marriage Georgie (Cory Michael Smith), and Gracie’s former defense attorney, who cuts to the chase, which is that Gracie still doesn’t think she did anything wrong. And she doesn’t, at least consciously, although we – and Joe – know that Gracie suffers from moments of agonizing depression.

It’s a fascinating set-up. Director Todd Haynes creates an utterly believable atmosphere, and gets excellent performances from the cast. Writer Samy Burch presents credible situations and lets them speak for themselves without making definitive ethical statements.

So, what’s the problem? As behavioral analysis, MAY DECEMBER is convincing. But as we get to know Gracie, Joe, and Elizabeth, we realize more and more that, as individuals, none of them are very bright. There may be some hope for Joe – he’s kind, he has a gentle hobby, and is finally able to do a bit of self-reflection – but Gracie and Elizabeth are both highly self-centered. Elizabeth is a little more complex, as she at least has the virtue of being curious. Still, the more we learn about all three, the less interesting they become.

By the end of MAY DECEMBER, whatever conclusions we may draw about the instigating scandal, we know in real life we wouldn’t actually want to spend time with any of its main figures. Whether we want to spend time observing them is up to each viewer’s sense of exactly what constitutes a gripping character study.

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