A major Academy Award potential film has been on Netflix for a week or so and I have just had the time to get to it. May December is an unsettling, awkward film based loosely on a true story.

According to IMDB, “Middle aged Gracie (Julianne Moore) lives a happy, well settled life with her husband [Joe (Charles Melton)]. Some years ago she was involved in an unsavory scandal but for her it is all in the past. Movie actress Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) is on a visit to this home and she is on a mission. This visit is a part of her preparation to play the role of Gracie in a movie being made. As she goes about talking to the family members Gracie wonders whether Elizabeth will uncover some secrets from her past and will some skeletons be revealed.“

Gracie, as an adult, had an affair with 13-year old Joe, and she spent years in prison for statutory rape. However, they stayed together in a relationship and had children.

There was a definite ick factor going on with this story.

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman were both outstanding as the two main women of the film. Charles Melton was also very good as Joe, the younger man who was not sure what his relationship was.

I will say that the ending was a little questionable for me. I was not expecting the ending and it through off my entire thought process of the film. That is not a bad thing in the end.

3.6 stars