In May December (2023), an actress travels to Georgia to observe a controversial woman she will be playing in an independent film. The film is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Elizabeth Berry is an actress who travels to Savannah, Georgia to observe Gracie Atherton-Yoo, the subject of an independent film with Elizabeth playing the role of Gracie.
Gracie went to prison over 20 years ago for having an affair with a 13-year-old boy named Joe while she was 36. Now she is married to Joe and has 3 children with him.
Gracie and Joe’s relationship appears happy and content despite all the media attention and criticism they faced when the news first broke out. Elizabeth is curious about their dynamic and how they must have fallen in love with each other.
She goes around town visiting people from Gracie’s past, such as Gracie’s ex-husband, the lawyer who represented her after she was arrested, and even visits the pet shop where their affair blossomed.
Gracie stays busy baking cakes locally, although the lawyer mentions that most of her orders are out of pity from people who want to keep her busy. Joe is an x-ray technician with a very quiet and shy demeanor.
He also has a hobby of raising Monarch butterflies, and regularly texts a woman with the same hobby that he connected with through a Facebook group.
Gracie craves control in her life and is prone to emotional outbursts when something doesn’t go her way. She makes cutting comments about her daughter’s figure while shopping for clothes to hold some power over her.
Joe tries his best to be a caring father to his children, but the truth is that he was barely given a chance to emotionally mature himself, and that is clear in his behavior.
The more time Elizabeth spends around Gracie and her family, the more she realizes what kind of person Gracie is, and yet, there are still things that she doesn’t fully understand.
Georgie, Gracie’s son who was Joe’s friend in school, meets Elizabeth and shares his opinions on his mother. He was seriously affected by the whole situation and that is seen in the way he carries himself.
His mother insists that she speaks to Georgie regularly, and has a healthy relationship with all of her children from her first marriage.
Elizabeth soon feels animosity toward her from Gracie and her daughters for various reasons. At a family dinner, Gracie and Joe’s oldest daughter Honor criticizes Elizabeth for taking on this project in the first place.
After dinner, Georgie finds Elizabeth and tells her that his mother was raped by her older brothers when she was younger, which possibly explains her mental state a little bit.
May December (2023) ending explained in detail:
What happens between Joe and Elizabeth?
Whenever Elizabeth spends time with Joe, she feels a connection with him. Being around the same age, they feel comfortable talking to each other.
Joe drops Elizabeth to her home one evening and even gives her one of the letters Gracie wrote to him during their affair. Elizabeth kisses Joe and has sex with him.
She then tells him that he is still young and has the option of starting a new life away from Gracie and everything that he has gone through in his troubled past.
What does Joe tell Gracie?
Joe doesn’t agree with Elizabeth’s analysis of his relationship but for the first time in his life, he decides to look inward and focus on his feelings about his relationship with Gracie.
During his conversations with the friend he made on Facebook, he often vents out his frustrations while being vague, and even suggests going on a vacation together, without truly comprehending what he’s suggesting.
He goes back home and brings up the topic with her, but she immediately becomes defensive. She insists that he was the one who seduced her and blames Elizabeth for messing with his head.
She ends the conversation, and the next day heads out for a hunt to clear her mind before Joe wakes up.
How does Graduation day go on?
Joe drives the children to their graduation, and Gracie meets them there later on. While Gracie sits in the bleachers with Honor, Joe watches on from the side, weeping from the sea of emotions he’s experienced lately.
After the ceremony, Elizabeth tells Gracie that she’s headed back to L.A. Gracie tells Elizabeth that the story Georgie shared about her brothers was false because he’s insecure and prone to far-fetched lies.
Gracie’s stark admission leaves Elizabeth visibly shaken. On the set of the film, she insists on filming several takes of the scene where Gracie first seduced Joe, because she feels like she’s getting closer to capturing the emotion that Gracie felt.
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