We’ve all heard and followed salacious and infamous cases of wrongdoing in the tabloid media, from OJ Simpson to Mary Kay Letourneau. In turning these stories into gossip, the real heinous effect on the lives of those involved and surrounding the cases is often lost. How did this change the communities these people lived in? How did their families react? These very real questions often fail to cross the minds of those following. A new film from Todd Haynes provides a look at the ripple effects and how these incidents change those involved, even if it takes them years to look in the mirror and realize it.
May December is the story of famous actress Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) who is shadowing Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) for an upcoming movie role. Gracie is 23 years removed from tabloid infamy when, as a 36-year old married woman, she was caught having an affair with her 13-year old local pet shop co-worker Joe Atherton-Yoo (Charles Melton) for which she served jail time and had to register as a sex offender. Now married with two children, Gracie and Joe’s marriage seems to buckle under pressure from Elizabeth prying into their lives, opening old wounds, and raising new questions for the controversial couple.
The highlight of the film and source from which all of its strength flows is the performance offered by Moore. She portrays Gracie with lightly constrained narcissism that bubbles just underneath the surface, but is on display enough as to make it obvious what the source for all the dysfunction of the Atherton-Yoo family is. In her interactions with Joe and their children Charlie (Gabriel Chung) and Mary (Elizabeth Yu), Gracie’s subtle belittling of them can be felt viscerally and, combined with her emotional manipulation of Joe with her mood swings that require his constant reassurance and comforting, it becomes evident how trapped they feel by her. Moore displays this almost too effectively, becoming Gracie in full and displaying behavior of a toxic personality that is experienced by the audience almost just as much as it is watched.
Gracie’s self-centered manipulativeness can be assumed to have been present ever since she first met Joe as a 13-year old coworker and as such, the audience is able to view just how much her presence in his life has stunted Joe’s growth as a person. Despite his large, adult male frame, Joe shrivels into a child throughout his interactions not just with Gracie, but with everyone around him, including his own children. An early scene which features Joe and Charlie having a heart to heart conversation on the roof outside of Charlie’s room followed by Charlie offering to share his joint with Joe, and Joe subsequently having a panic attack, stands out as an example of Joe’s stunted development and helps to make the point early on that Joe has lost out on a lot due to his early, illicit exposure to romance at Gracie’s hand. Melton does well in his portrayal of a man who seems well put together on the surface, but is struggling internally and trying to mask it, pulling off the subtlety demanded of the character.
May December does however provide a nuanced look at its characters and their situation, most notably through the gradual reveal of Gracie’s backstory which includes her experience with sexual assault at the hands of brothers. Gracie’s adult son Georgie (Cory Michael Smith) from her first marriage reveals this bit of information to Elizabeth and its inclusion does shed new light on Gracie’s personality and behavior. Like Joe, she has had her innocence corrupted early on through abuse and it has turned her into the person she is today. And like many who have been abused, Gracie herself became an abuser once she reached adulthood. It’s a fair and balanced take on the topic that the film displays and communicates well.
May December could have easily been a salacious retelling of infamous teacher-student statutory rape cases, but Samy Burch’s script and Todd Haynes’ direction add nuance to a story where it may have been controversial to provide it. The cast does well in portraying the morally complex characters with Julianne Moore and Charles Melton standing out in their portrayals of the film’s most complicated persons. The weight of the film’s themes and its exploration of the toxicity and pain left in the wake of the relationship at its center outpace its entertainment value, it’s ultimately more of an interesting watch than a fun one. But, May December does provide a perspective on the aftermath of a controversial case such as the Atherton-Yoo’s that isn’t widely considered, buoyed by good performances.
Image: Netflix
