Todd Haynes’ latest study of the undercurrents of American notoriety is his most willfully complicated work. It’s based on the 90s scandal involving the late Mary Kay Letourneau, an elementary school teacher who at the age of 34 had sex with one of her students and went to jail, where she gave birth to the boy’s child. Upon release, she married the boy and they raised a family before separating some 15 years later. Haynes and his screenwriter, Samy Burch, have changed the particulars of the case and added a fictional character who means to probe the relationship for personal profit. Though the themes are not particularly difficult to grasp, the plot tries to answer every possible question an observer might ask themself about what such a relationship entails, and, for the most part, the two filmmakers succeed. In fact, they answer a few questions we may not even have thought of.

Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe (Charles Melton) Yoo live in a fine home in upscale Savannah, Georgia, where both have lived all their lives, meaning they remain in the town where the scandal unfolded, among the people they scandalized most directly, including Gracie’s first husband and their children. In addition to the daughter, Honor (Piper Curda), that Gracie bore in prison and who is now in college, the couple have twins, Mary (Elizabeth Yu) and Charlie (Gabriel Chung), who are about to graduate high school. Joe is only 36. Into this fertile milieu comes Elizabeth (Natalie Portman), a famous TV actress trying for some much desired prestige by playing Gracie in an independent film directed by a hot shot veteran with whom she is having an affair. Gracie has granted Elizabeth a few weeks of her time so that the actress can do research on the part, a task that Gracie obviously doesn’t like but, as she says, if they’re going to make such a movie any influence on her part is better than nothing. At first, Elizabeth tries to be the consummate professional, promising Gracie that the movie will be a “complex and human story,” an explanation that doesn’t exactly put Gracie at ease, but the die has already been cast, and as Elizabeth spends her days in the finely appointed household she, and we, observe Gracie’s domineering passive-aggressive relationship with Joe, a medical technician whose hobby is raising butterflies. As Elizabeth gets closer to a conception of Gracie that she can use, she inserts herself into the life of the family and the community in such a way that, purposely or not, she undermines the various relationships she encounters by reflecting them back on the principals. Moreover, by interviewing the peripheral personalities, such as Gracie’s ex-husband, Tom (D.W. Moffett), and their emotionally wayward son, Georgie (Cory Michael Smith), she manifests an array of self-doubts and recriminations that have been simmering for years. Joe, in particular, finally admits to himself that, as much as he loves his children, he resents Gracie for forcing him onto a path he was too young to navigate with a clear mind. 

Fundamentally, the story is about sex and maturity, and in that regard Haynes can’t resist making it into a broad entertainment—a mystery and a comedy, often at the same time. The dramatic thrust of the scandal is that Gracie impulsively stepped over a line and refuses to regret it, which means Elizabeth feels she has the license to do the same, and while the actions on screen are bound to shock certain sensibilities, they do so in the spirit of how tragically ridiculous the whole enterprise is. In the film’s most hilariously cringe-inducing scene, Elizabeth takes questions from a high school theater class whose main interest is how she handles sex scenes, for which she is famous. As with almost every encounter in the movie, Elizabeth plays it like a pro, meaning she not only gets in the last word, but keeps her interlocutors wanting more. In that regard, she’s Gracie’s worst nightmare. 

Now playing in Tokyo at Toho Cinemas Nihonbashi (050-6868-5060), Toho Cinemas Hibiya (050-6868-5068), Toho Cinemas Shinjuku (050-6868-5063), Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills (050-6868-5024).

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