Logline of May December: Decades after their scandalous relationship made headlines, a couple starts to unravel when a famous actor arrives to research them for her new film.
Script Can Be Found Here
Summary of May December:
May December begins around Memorial Day of 2015 when Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) arrives in Savannah on an unusual research trip. As a well-known actress, she’s there to gain more insight into Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore), whom she will play in an upcoming movie. Based loosely on the scandal surrounding Mary Kay Letourneau, May December’s premise is, how and what are those scandal’s participants doing now?
The answer would be, at first, quite well. Between then and now, Gracie married Joe Yoo (36) and had the twins Mary and Charlie (18), who are about to graduate from high school, as well as Honor (22), who has left home. As Elizabeth follows Gracie in her life, she gains more information about her; disapproving people send her packages of poop; she has a small business of creating baked goods (probably because she couldn’t find regular employment); she and Joe and their immediate family appear to be doing fine.
But these characters can’t fully escape their past, and a haunting feeling hangs over these characters like Savannah’s ubiquitous Spanish moss. Tom, Gracie’s former husband, still is somewhat shocked by her behavior; son Georgie never fully recovered and exhibits behavioral problems to this day. Elizabeth also visits the pet store where Gracie seduced Joe, mimicking her making love in the supposed spot in the back room where it occurs.
The more Elizabeth goes deeper into the research, the more she realizes that her presence is unwanted. Gracie begins to act more on edge around Joe; after she talks with Mary’s drama class about being a working actor, Mary has a negative reaction and refuses to speak with her; Honor, upon her arrival, is not hesitant in expressing her disdain; and Georgie tells Elizabeth that one of the reasons why she acts the way she does is because she was sexually violated by her older brothers.
When Joe drives Elizabeth back to the inn one night. After giving her a letter that Gracie wrote to him, she nevertheless invites him in, and they end up sleeping together. When Joe goes home, he doesn’t confess to his adultery, but the two talk about the origin of their relationship, which agitates Gracie. The next morning, Gracie goes out into the backyard with full hunting gear )and spots a rabid fox, but doesn’t kill it) before the Atherton-Yoo family attend the twins’ graduation. Elizabeth attends as well, and both wear white. Before exchanging chilly good-byes, Gracie tells Elizabeth that Georgie was lying.
The final scene is Elizabeth-as-Gracie enacting the pet store seduction scene for the TV movie. She keeps wanting to re-do it in an attempt to get it right.
What does May December do well?
May December is a haunting, character-driven piece chock full of subtlety and nuance. (In some ways, even though it isn’t particularly talky, I felt like the piece seemed more like an off-Broadway play than a prestige Netflix drama.
And that’s because of the subject matter. While childhood sexual abuse has been covered in such Cate Blanchett vehicles as Notes on a Scandal, I’ve largely such a taboo subject that would potentially tarnish the brands of A-list actors, so I appreciate that both Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman would explore such a complex subject in a sensitive manner.
- Unique timing of a well-known story – In the 90s, inescapable tabloid stories like Mary Kay Letourneau were seared into the public consciousness. But whatever happened to the major players and their survivors? Setting it twenty years later takes a less obvious angle, leaving room for meaty character exploration of the caricatures we thought we knew. May December posits that the characters had sustained enough romantic love that their relationship survived prison and kids, but that it was far from perfect and that unresolved trauma still existed.
- Location – Savannah has a unique and haunted presence (think Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil), which feels appropriate for the subject matter. This city (or even New Orleans) contributes to the theme of unresolved events from the past coming back to haunt the present.
- Exploration of male trauma – In pop/Western culture, the trope is usually older male, younger female (see Lolita). When the roles are reversed, it’s usually done in a comedic way (see The Graduate) in a way that almost caters to a male fantasy or, at least, presents something unthreatening. But if the male is underage, it’s still childhood sex abuse. What I appreciate about this film is that Joe seems to finally be grappling with what happened (there’s no indication that he had therapy). These are powerful scenes because it represents what so many male survivors of childhood trauma have yet to unpack. This piece gives voice to the people with pain.
- Nature – May December has an undeniable nature motif coursing through its narrative. The metaphor of a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis to a winged insect represents Joe, his arrested development, and his desire to find freedom (it’s no wonder he desires to cheat on Gracie with Michaela from the Monarch butterfly Facebook group; he commits adultery with Elizabeth who, of course, works on a TV show called Animal Hospital). That he was violated in a pet store only strengthens the theme. This leitmotif, which occurs heavily in The Sopranos (and The Sopranos is mentioned), demonstrates that often our most reprehensible actions come from nature and that despite our evolution and highest intentions, we humans can be absolute predators. What’s interesting is that Gracie is a predator who reproduces in much the same way an insect lays eggs (she has five kids between two marriages, many of whom she doesn’t talk about). Elizabeth, too, is a predator. The more details she acquires about Gracie, the more it seems like she’s getting to the truth and using it for her own gain, the culmination of which is her bedding Joe, reciting the letter Gracie wrote to Joe from jail, and filming the pet store seduction scene. That the two women both arrive at Mary’s graduation wearing white dresses shows Elizabeth and Gracie are two sides of the same coin.
- Brilliant subtext – The more Elizabeth probes Gracie’s life, the more negative and agitated Gracie becomes. But here’s the thing: Gracie doesn’t outright say, “I’m uncomfortable with her around” or “She’s asking too many questions.” Instead, when a customer cancels an order, she cries to Joe with this jewel, “Her sister is sick or something–it doesn’t matter! I wasted hours that I could’ve used.” As soon as she said that, I immediately thought, “This has nothing to do with cakes. It has everything to do with her regretting her choices. Or else why would she focus on the hours she wasted?” Having characters make such observations create amazing opportunities for us to read into these people’s lives. And question them.
- Secrets and lies – Secrets and lies are two of the biggest weapons in a writer’s arsenal, and here, loose cannon Georgie uses them in telling Elizabeth why Gracie is the way she is (i.e., sexual abuse). What’s interesting is when Gracie tells Elizabeth that it’s b.s., we don’t know what she knows. In fact, we don’t even know what’s real, which contributes to the overall theme of the piece.
- Mirroring – So many aspects of certain characters mirroring the others. For instance, when Elizabeth is reading up on Gracie from vintage magazines, Joe is re-playing old make-up commercials featuring Elizabeth (there’s a weird voyeurism going on). Also, Joe and Elizabeth are the same age (and yet, she never talks about her recollection of the tabloid events). The mirroring serves to show that the characters are more similar than they are different.
- Difficult Ending – When Gracie goes hunting towards the end of the film, I honestly thought that she was going to hunt down Elizabeth and kill her because the tension was so high. And…it didn’t happen. Instead, Elizabeth and Gracie have a terse good-bye at the graduation and, later, Elizabeth re-enacts the pet store seduction scene. This non-paid-off ending (and Elizabeth’s performance) gave me the impression that Gracie didn’t win, end the film with the upper hand, or eradicate Elizabeth. Instead, Elizabeth the predator kind of wins. She was the stronger of the two. (And, sometimes, in life, that happens). Here, the end justifies the means.
I really, really liked this film. In terms of production, there are two indelible aspects I thought I’d bring up.
- Dated decor – That the kitchen hasn’t been updated yet is such a strong choice; it indicates that these characters are stuck in the past.
- Weird musical score – The overly melodramatic score seemed jarring and ill-fitting choice; I didn’t know why this was happening. But when Georgie mentioned that he wanted to be the music supervisor on Elizabeth’s film, I couldn’t help but think that this is the type of score that a halfwit amateur would create. Again, because the film wrestles with the tenuous nature of truth, it feels like it fits (and defuses tension).
Open to your thoughts…