May December

Much like talking to someone who is clearly opaque, May December lingers in your head.

It lingers so long that you realise there is no use in understanding this interaction, and you’re better off forgetting the individual completely to continue on with your life.

Gracie, is one of those people. Unique for portrayal in a film. Irreconcilable within the confines of my brain.

All three lead roles are especially well executed, from subtle voices, to the stance of each character. The contrast of Joe’s breadth in his shoulders, and weakness in his voice is jarring to watch.

Richard Brody at the New Yorker and Sheila O'Malley at Roger Ebert make telling comments about the film:

In delivering it, the movie offers good actors, good dialogue, good performances, a steady tone, a few memorable twists, some striking moments—it’s manifestly the work of a major director—but it means what it means, and it means nothing more.

Every time you think there is solid ground, the tectonic plates shift, leaving you grasping empty air. The events of [the film] are so objectively appalling they scream for a moral judgment to be handed down, and yet the deeper it goes, the more confusing things get. It's unsettling to be confused in a film about this subject.

I’d recommend reading the case the film was inspired by—the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal—which is equally as baffling.