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May December appears to be based on the real life story of Mary Kay LaTourneau, the teacher who had an affair with her 8th grade student, only to be put in jail and then once out, reunited with the student to get married and have children (they have since divorced). In this film, Julianne Moore plays Gracie and it is 20 years into her relationship (and marriage) with her student Joe. They are just on the verge of an empty nest, they are experienced as parents with their three children, and Natalie Portman comes into their lives as Elizabeth, a famous movie star on the brink of starring in an unauthorized biography about the couple. Gracie is emotionally unstable, a narcissist, and a sometimes willing sometime not life subject. She is understandably concerned about how she is going to be portrayed, especially so many years after her release from prison. She claims that her life with Joe has settled into something so normal and they are so much a part of the community that this pedophelia feels like something of the past. Joe is at once a mature husband and father, the family calmer and caretaker, and in many ways still an immature child. And all of this careful scrutiny by Portman upends the whole family in different ways.
The film is provocative and all of the leads are quite good. The thing is, it's really hard to view this 35 year old man as anything but a victim. Charles Melton who plays Joe is the essence of a supporting actor character, knowing the right moments to lead and the right moments to support. But there's something just slightly off about watching a relationship born so clearly of dysfunction. It's a good film, but I was uneasy for most of it. And maybe that's exactly what Todd Haynes was trying to do.
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