One of the most significant acquisitions of the Cannes Film Festival this year was Todd Haynes’ May December, which, just before its NYFF debut later this week, has finally gotten a trailer. The film stars Natalie Portman as an actress staying with the woman (Julianne Moore) that she’s about to play in a movie. The woman in question is a former teacher who had an affair with one of her students and, once she got out of jail, married the now-grown man (played by Charles Melton) in question.
Younger readers may not remember the Mary Kay Letourneau case, but in the late nineties, it was huge news. An elementary-school teacher, Mary Kay Letourneau, had an affair with Vili Fualaau, her 12-year-old student and was convicted of second-degree felony rape of a child. While she nearly got off with a plea deal, while awaiting sentencing, she was discovered with the child and went to jail for six years, during which time she gave birth to a child by Fualaau and, in a crazy twist, ended up marrying him when she got out of prison. They eventually separated after 14 years, and Letourneau died shortly after.
Overall, it is a very seedy story that influenced movies like Notes on a Scandal and the TV series A Teacher. However, to make the teacher more sympathetic, they made the age discrepancy less substantial. Haynes’ film, despite being fictional, is said to be more accurate as far as the ages go, and the buzz out of Cannes suggested that the movie is very provocative in that none of the characters are sanitized.
Notably, both Portman and Moore will be competing for best lead actress as far as awards consideration goes. I’ll be attending the NYFF premiere on Friday, so make sure to check out our review this weekend.
Here’s the official poster: