Directed by: Joel Edgerton
Starring: Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Joel Edgerton, Flea, Joe Alwyn, Xavier Dolan, Troye Sivan
A different type of abuse is at the heart of Boy Erased, based on the Garrard Conley memoir about a gay teen sent to "conversion therapy", or a center where a group of religious zealots attempt to exorcise the homosexuality out of teens. The movie doesn't take place in the 1940's or 1950's, but in 2004, and enlightenment has apparently befallen the Love in Action center, led by the villainous Victor Sykes (Edgerton) who foolishly believes homosexuality is caused by external factors like alcoholic uncles or faulty DNA. The abuse here is trying to suppress people into forsaking their sexual identity through a system of tyranny, guilt, shame, and manipulation. Phrases like "God will not love you until you rid yourself of this sin," are used in order to somehow force these impressionable kids into squelching their true emotions. You would think in the 21st century, most of society would have come around to the understanding that there are homosexuals in the world, but it appears our confidence is misguided.
Boy Erased is Joel Edgerton's follow-up to The Gift (2015), which was one of that year's best films. He proves once again he is an excellent director, expertly managing the complex themes and emotions at play. The sequences at the therapy center rile up the most outrage, while the quieter, subtler scenes between Jared (Hedges) and his spiritual parents are the most powerful. Boy Erased doesn't make the mistake of turning Jared's parents (Kidman and Crowe-both remarkable) into insufferable, backward creeps, but instead shows them as loving parents who never thought they would have to encounter homosexuality in their son. Marshall (Crowe) runs a successful auto dealership and is a pastor at his local church. Nancy (Kidman) is a supportive wife and mother who never questioned her husband's actions...until now. Jared plays basketball, has a girlfriend, and soon attends college. But, his girlfriend doesn't turn him on and he soon comes to understand his same sex desires. Jared tries to hide his sexual orientation, but an encounter with a college friend (Alwyn) turns ugly and forces Jared's feelings into the light.
Marshall consults with church elders and pays thousands of dollars sight unseen to Love in Action in hopes it would "cure" his son. Sykes runs the center like a prison, and in many ways, it is one. He conducts exercises such as role playing, confessions, lessons in "manliness", and drawing up family trees to figure out where in the genealogical line "things went wrong". Sykes is a supposedly converted homosexual, although I am at a loss to determine what that means. Sykes, and others, mistakenly believe you can rid someone of their desires through physical action. In the case of one wayward teen, parents and friends publicly whip him in order to cast out demons. These disturbing scenes would almost seem like parody or satire if such places didn't actually exist.
Edgerton never plays Sykes as an over-the-top fanatic frothing at the mouth. His cruelty is more subtle and hidden in a façade of support and love. Hedges, who with this film and previous strong work in Manchester by the Sea, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Lady Bird, is forging quite a terrific body of work. His Jared is quiet, trying to be all things to all people and go along, but soon forges his assertiveness and stands up to Sykes after comprehending that what's going on is just plain wrong. Hedges provides a sympathetic center, and the people in his life need to adjust to him, not the other way around. Kidman and Crowe both have their own quietly moving and triumphant scenes in which they understand their own complicity and short-sightedness and find ways to learn and grow.
Boy Erased is not an anti-religion film, but an anti-small mindedness one. When Jared finally musters the courage to escape from the center and choose to live life on his terms, I felt exalted and nearly shouted "YES!" from my theater seat. And Jared's final conversation with Marshall feels nothing short of true, complex, and human, which could be said of the movie itself.
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