'May December': A Disturbing Tale of Self-Delusion and Unethical Behavior

Todd Haynes's new film, loosely based on the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal, explores the complexities of a toxic relationship and its aftermath.

‘May December’, a new film by Todd Haynes, is based loosely on the 1990s tabloid scandal of Mary Kay Letourneau, the schoolteacher who had sex with a 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau, becoming pregnant by him (twice), delivering their second child while serving time for second-degree child rape and ultimately marrying Fualaau.
The film is structured around the premise that a film is being made about Gracie, Letourneau’s stand-in, about 24 years after the crime first came to light, with Charles Melton as her now-grown husband Joe, with whom Grace has three, not two, teenage children.
Natalie Portman plays the actress who has been hired to play Gracie and her presence opens fissures in the relationship between Gracie and Joe, and ultimately leads to a betrayal.
The film is filled with self-delusion and unethical behavior, not just on Gracie’s part, but Elizabeth’s. As the actress pokes, probes and pries into Gracie’s psyche, mannerisms and family history, we find a trail littered with broken people.
The film puts the audience — and our own prejudices — under the klieg lights, along with Gracie’s.