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Todd Haynes’ take on a scandalous, unethical, and very illegal romance is one that won’t soon leave my mind. May December takes place two decades after the start of a highly publicized affair between former teacher Gracie Atherton (Julianne Moore) and her now-husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton), whom she met when he was just a seventh grader. When they agree to be the subject of a movie about their lives, popular TV actress Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) takes a trip to the couples’ home to research the controversial family. What follows is cringey, hilarious, and a little bit camp. Endlessly entertaining, May December will make you squirm in your seat in the best way possible.

I’m just old enough to remember the tabloid frenzy fueled by teacher Mary Kay Letourneau sexually assaulting her sixth-grade student Vili Fualaau. It resulted in a prison sentence for then-pregnant Letourneau (images of the mother holding her infant daughter behind bars are notorious and easily findable on the internet) and a pariah status that continues to follow Fualaau to this day. It’s one that hardly seems fair, considering he was a child and a victim who went on to be married to Letourneau until just before her death in 2020. Neither of their names are uttered in May December – Todd Haynes’ salacious dramady about a strikingly similar fictitious affair – but shades of this real-life crime can be felt throughout the film’s 113-minute runtime.

If you’re wondering where the “funny” comes into a film based on something so heinous, I don’t blame you. But it’s there, and the audience’s hesitance to find humor in such a gross concept was palpable at my screening at the BFI’s London Film Festival. Still, Haynes’ ability to blend absurd dialogue with a comically intense soundtrack and fabulously over-the-top performance by Moore creates a cringe-cocktail that left me in stitches.

At first glance, Elizabeth (the star of a hit TV show called Nora’s Arc) is taken aback at how normal the family seems when she shows up at their idyllic backyard barbeque. The couple now has three grown children and Joe, at just 36 years old, is a soon-to-be empty nester who appears to have taken to the role of the quintessential hunky husband. Gracie, meanwhile, has left her teaching days behind and spends her time baking and fulfilling pie orders for neighbors. Not a bad life for two people whose existence was once so shrouded in scandal (they still get boxes of poop left on their doorstep occasionally). Upon further inspection, though, the actress learns that not all is necessarily what it seems.

Melton’s turn as a young grooming victim who never had a shot at a normal childhood is completely captivating to watch, especially as he gains enough self-awareness to realize that, perhaps, he wasn’t old enough to make such adult decisions in the seventh grade. A particularly touching scene features the couple’s teenage son giving Joe his first joint. It touchingly illustrates the confusing dynamic between a man and his son who is not much older than he. That said, the real story here is the budding and complex relationship between Gracie and Elizabeth: two alpha females who both think they’ve got the upper hand. There are times throughout the film where I thought the odd couple dynamic would turn romantic between the two of them, and that’s really the genius of May December. It’s impossible to predict where the landing will stick. And as more is unveiled about Elizabeth and Gracie’s respective pasts, you learn that perhaps each of the women is just as skilled an actress as the other.

Grade: A

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: Best Supporting Actor (Charles Melton), Best Original Screenplay
Should be Considered: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore), Best Lead Actress (Natalie Portman), Best Original Score

Release Date: November 17, 2023 (Select Theaters) December 1, 2023 (Netflix)