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Todd Haynes’s directional ‘May December’ featuring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman has caused a stir among the viewers.
The movie is about a married couple in which a woman married the man whom she had an affair with when she was 36 years old and he was just a 13-year-old teenager. Things seemed fine until one day, an actress appeared who wanted to star in a movie based on their lives.
The movie’s central idea has left viewers to wonder if the movie was fictional or based on a true story. Well, you’re not alone with such thought.
Though May December is fictional in that the characters and plot are made up it is loosely based on a real-life court case.
What is May December about?
In May December, popular television actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) heads to Savannah, Georgia, to research a part in a new film that follows a scandalous tabloid romance. That love affair — between Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) — was once a fixture of the gossip pages.
After all, Joe is significantly younger than Gracie, who served time in prison when they were caught together. When she was released, the pair were married, and they now have three children together who are about to graduate from high school.
At first glance, their untraditional marriage looks more predictable than Elizabeth expected. But soon, her observation brings long-dormant feelings to the surface, and the decades-old scandal reveals deeper and deeper layers.
Is May December based on a true story?
May December is partially inspired by a woman named Mary Kay Letourneau, who was arrested in 1997 after pleading guilty to two counts of rape.
Her victim was Villi Fualaau, a 12-year-old student whom she taught at Sherwood Elementary in Burien, Washington.
Over the course of their relationship, Letourneau gave birth to two children and served six years in prison. After Letourneau’s release, she married Fualaau, they were together 14 years until their split in 2019. Letourneau died the following year from colorectal cancer.
Is there any movie based on such a case?
Letourneau and Fualaau were never the subject of a Hollywood movie, like Gracie and Joe, but the director of this movie utilized aspects of their relationship to create May December.
Is Gracie’s character similar to Mary Kay Letourneau?
There are even more aspects of Moore’s character that mirror how Letourneau acted in real life. One key similarity is how she speaks. In May and December, Gracie often talks with a lisp, which slips out when she feels attacked.
The movie is streaming on Netflix US!
