May December (2023)
An examination of a scandalous relationship years after the tabloids have settled down.
Laura’s Rating: 2/5 Stars
Plot: Gracie and Joe are a seemingly happily married couple with several kids. Actress Elizabeth Berry shows up to learn more about their lives for an upcoming movie in which she will portray Gracie. It’s revealed that Joe and Gracie’s relationship started with scandal, seeing as Gracie was 36 and Joe was just 13 at the time. Gracie ended up going to prison and giving birth to Joe’s baby while incarcerated. Elizabeth wants to learn more about them so she can accurately portray their story and starts spending a lot of time with the family.
Analysis: Charles Melton does a great job in his role, but I don’t think the script gives him enough to work with. The relationships between Joe and his kids were the most interesting to me because he’s guiding them through a childhood and early adulthood that he never really had himself.
This story is interesting because it takes place in the present day, when Gracie and Joe are both adults capable of consent, despite the unbalanced start of their affair and subsequent relationship. This aspect sets the film apart from stories like Lolita, although there are similarities.
Joe says in the film that he doesn’t want to be seen as a victim, but he is a victim. This is a story of grooming and generational trauma, not of forbidden love. Gracie herself claims she is naive and always has been, growing up in a sheltered existence. At the same time, Gracie is the catalyst for Joe being put in adult situations and having to grow up quickly.
I didn’t like the pacing of the movie at all. It’s incredibly slow moving, but by the end, the story feels incomplete. There’s this awkward tension throughout the whole film and Elizabeth is an uncomfortable presence at the edge of every scene. There’s a rather long monologue from Elizabeth later in the film that was unsettling and strange as well. The ending of the film was abrupt and left me unsatisfied. I probably wouldn’t recommend the movie.
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