May December (2023)
Director: Todd Haynes
A May-December marriage is between two people with a wide age gap. May refers to the proverbial spring (of life), while December refers to late autumn or winter.
The story is based on the 1997 infamous case of Mary Kay Letourneau, an elementary school teacher in Washington, aged 34, who had sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Villi Fualaau. She was charged with rape. She delivered a love child during the trials. She was later imprisoned for breaking a plea agreement. After her release, the teacher and student married in 2005 and went on to have a set of twins. Mary already had four children when she was teaching Villi. She was having troubles in her marriage and was diagnosed as having bipolar disease. Both Villi and Mary justified their actions as acts of love.
This film revisits the Mary Kay-Fualaau family in 2015. The timeline is out here. The couple has three kids, including a pair of twins. An actress, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), who is to play Mary's part (Gracie in the film, Julianne Moore), drops in the household to get a feel of things to play the role. At the end of the day, the viewers get more than what they bargained for. It tries to dive into the family dynamics as their second born (the twins) graduates from high school. Elizabeth tries to do more than is needed. She tries to interview Gracie's immediate family and ex-husband to get a composite picture of what made Gracie and Joe (Villi's part) get together. She also tries to evaluate the family dynamics.
What we gather is a domineering, control-freak kind of a wife who wants to have the final say in everything. She creates an aura of calmness and a business-as-usual atmosphere at home. In reality, at best, she is passive-aggressive in getting things done. She is disliked by many and is a registered sex offender. She continues receiving hate mail. People boycott her. Joe, on the other hand, appears unsure about everything. He is a passive member of the family. It seems like he has had arrested development, missing all the late teenager's years of exposure. If we remember, he was burdened with father's duty at 13. As the movie progresses, we can see that Joe has second thoughts about the arrangement but lingers on for the children's sake, not wanting to be the cause of their psychological well-being. In real life, Villi and Mary Kay divorced in 2019.
Director: Todd Haynes
The story is based on the 1997 infamous case of Mary Kay Letourneau, an elementary school teacher in Washington, aged 34, who had sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Villi Fualaau. She was charged with rape. She delivered a love child during the trials. She was later imprisoned for breaking a plea agreement. After her release, the teacher and student married in 2005 and went on to have a set of twins. Mary already had four children when she was teaching Villi. She was having troubles in her marriage and was diagnosed as having bipolar disease. Both Villi and Mary justified their actions as acts of love.
This film revisits the Mary Kay-Fualaau family in 2015. The timeline is out here. The couple has three kids, including a pair of twins. An actress, Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), who is to play Mary's part (Gracie in the film, Julianne Moore), drops in the household to get a feel of things to play the role. At the end of the day, the viewers get more than what they bargained for. It tries to dive into the family dynamics as their second born (the twins) graduates from high school. Elizabeth tries to do more than is needed. She tries to interview Gracie's immediate family and ex-husband to get a composite picture of what made Gracie and Joe (Villi's part) get together. She also tries to evaluate the family dynamics.
What we gather is a domineering, control-freak kind of a wife who wants to have the final say in everything. She creates an aura of calmness and a business-as-usual atmosphere at home. In reality, at best, she is passive-aggressive in getting things done. She is disliked by many and is a registered sex offender. She continues receiving hate mail. People boycott her. Joe, on the other hand, appears unsure about everything. He is a passive member of the family. It seems like he has had arrested development, missing all the late teenager's years of exposure. If we remember, he was burdened with father's duty at 13. As the movie progresses, we can see that Joe has second thoughts about the arrangement but lingers on for the children's sake, not wanting to be the cause of their psychological well-being. In real life, Villi and Mary Kay divorced in 2019.
The actress Elizabeth, on the other hand, is no saint either. She uses her unique position and feminine charm to extract all she needs from people around here, including bedding Joe, for her career advancement.
An interview with a Tamil actor still at the height of his career and has a late teenage son comes to mind. When asked about the pros of marrying early, he replied that one's life is more malleable when young. Marrying young gets one to mould himself to fit the demands of the new family. Delaying one's marriage to a later makes one develop routines and idiosyncrasies that are challenging to shake off, quickly creating friction. I disagree with that statement. Getting committed at a tender age to the whims and fancies of the raging hormones, ill-prepared for the challenges of family life can be disastrous, too. The appreciation of the wedding institution and the willingness to uphold it at all expense would ensure success.
Bending the minds towards one particular narrative would ensure the continuity of the status quo. Some call this 'Peace on Earth'; others call it the domination of the elitists. When the mind becomes inquisitive and screams to break free, they call it a revolution, which can be 'Hell on Earth'!
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