SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read this post if you haven’t seen, or don’t want to know, details from the movie May December (2023) streaming on Netflix.

Gracie: I thought you were taller. You look taller on television, but we’re basically the same size.

Elizabeth: We’re basically the same.

Natalie Portman (who plays an actress named Elizabeth) brought the script to director Todd Haynes as a potential collab; he loved the script and suggested Julianne Moore (w/ whom he worked on 4 other films) for Gracie. This film was acquired by Netflix for $11M following its premiere at Cannes (May 2023). It was shot in 23 days on location in Savannah, Georgia. Charles Melton (Riverdale) gained 40 lbs. for his role as Joe. Melton’s mother is an immigrant from Korea; she met her white/American husband while he was serving overseas in the military. A prolific character/NYC theater actor, D. W. Moffett (Gracie’s ex-husband Tom), heads the film and TV dept. at the Savannah College of Art and Design; students from the acting program appear in the movie.

Joe: [to his son] God, I can’t tell if we’re connecting, or if I’m creating a bad memory for you in real time, but I can’t help it.

Gracie and Joe met at the pet store where they worked when she was 36 y.o. and he was 13 y.o. As some of you MAY recall, the story IRL was even more problematic: Vili Fualaau was only 12 y.o. and Mary Kay Letorneau (39 y.o.) was his teacher. The 3 lead characters are a LOT more complicated than they initially appear. We start at a backyard BBQ of a (seemingly happy) family headed by Gracie Atherton-Yoo (a baker in her 50s) and her handsome/36 y.o. husband, Joe Yoo (a X-ray tech). They have 3 teen children together; one daughter is in college and the twins (a boy and girl) are preparing to graduate H.S. Through Elizabeth’s eyes, we gradually begin to learn more about this couple. It’s hard to understand why Gracie acts the way she does. Can she truly be as naive as she acts? Joe is still a boy in his mind, though w/ an adult’s body and responsibilities. His kids are half his age, BUT seem to be more mature.

You’re kinda dangerous in this movie. I never knew what she [Gracie] was gonna do. -Annette Bening commented to Moore during Variety’s Actors on Actors interview

This story NOT only delves into the predatory relationship btwn Gracie and Joe, it also comments on how (self-important) actors can predatorily insert themselves into strangers’ lives. For a woman who has transgressed in a big way, Gracie is V concerned w/ appearances and image (publicly). She has a V feminine (girly) persona; she speaks sometimes w/ a lisp (a decision Moore made to sound younger). Weirdly, as she gets to know Gracie more, Elizabeth copies the lisp. Melton walks as if he’s being dragged forward by an unseen force; he often has his shoulders hunched (to make himself smaller). Elizabeth flirts w/ Joe when they’re alone at the hospital during her observation of his work life.

There is an unsettling kind of tension that permeates this movie. Though I loved the acting (incl. from the kids), I was NOT a fan of the (cheesy) soundtrack. Haynes chose it from a ’70s drama he discovered. The (grainy/sun-drenched) visual style works here IMO, though it may be unappealing to some viewers. Is this supposed to be a comedy or a drama? As I was watching, I thought it had elements of a dark comedy. There are unexpected scenes, though I did guess what happened at the climax. Check it out for yourself!

[1] …this is a very well done movie about adults who are really just children. They never healed from their traumas and what ensues is a vision of how life is when you ignore that stuff. […]

The movie is for people that love film as art – not narrative. It is very well done. All the acting is based on nuanced subtext. The score and the cinematography are also very well done (I love slow zooms…sue me).

[2] Elizabeth is polite and apologetic as she initially treads carefully in asking probing questions of the family and their friends. Her approach generates some awkward moments, and although Gracie seems to hold firmly to her did-nothing-wrong stance, it’s Joe who begins to question things… mimicking the slow development of the Monarch butterflies he breeds.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews