May December director Todd Haynes explains the title of his recent film May December. Based on a story by Burch and Alex Mechanik, the film stars Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton. It is loosely based on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau, whose illegitimate relationship with her sixth-grade student was sensationalized by tabloids. Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) plays an actress who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore). She is infamous because of her scandalous relationship with her husband Joe Yoo (Charles Melton). Gracie and Joe’s relationship is unusual because it started when Gracie was 36 and Jow was 13.
Todd Haynes Explains the Title of May December
Todd Haynes is popular for movies that examine sexuality, fame, and people on the periphery of mainstream society. In an interview with Letterboxd, Haynes explains the phrase describes a relationship with an age gap as noticeable as the gap between the months.
“It’s interesting when something is known in the American vernacular and not in the British. It’s definitely a term that doesn’t translate out of the English language well. I’ve just always thought of it as a slightly old-fashioned, demure way of describing a relationship between an elder and a younger person with a big age gap. May is spring, December is winter—that range. But the film’s title plays into the month of May, too, and May is the bracketed month of an inevitability around the summer. It begins with a Memorial Day celebration and ends with graduation. So all this anxiety and nerves are circulating through that month and it plays into the title as well.”
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