Based on a 2016 memoir by writer Garrard Conley, “Boy Erased”
details the author’s experiences being sent to gay conversion therapy after
being forcibly outed to his conservative family. With his second feature (after
2015’s underrated thriller “The Gift”) actor-turned-director Joel Edgerton
brings a rich sense of empathy and thoughtfulness to a story that can at times
be difficult to watch.
Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) stars as Jared Eamons, an Arkansas teen raised by his devout Baptist
parents (Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman). But from the moment he’s dropped off
for his “counseling,” at the benign-sounding Love in Action facility, he’s told
by the program’s director and lead counselor Victor Sykes (played by Edgerton)
that his sexuality is directly at odds with his religious upbringing, the
result of a “God-shaped void” in his life.
A gifted young actor, Hedges allows us to see Jared’s
struggle play out internally, both during his intensive group therapy sessions
with Sykes as well as in flashbacks to Jared’s fraught path toward the
realization that he’s gay. Kidman and Crowe are excellent, playing two people
who love their son even while struggling to understand him, trying in
frequently misguided ways to do what they think is right.
Edgerton’s script does sometimes struggle with the inherent
difficulties of adapting a memoir. With a book, the writer possesses the
ability to place us firmly inside its protagonist’s head, knowing exactly what
they’re thinking even if they don’t — or can’t — express it outwardly. Films
have a more difficult task that way (at least without resorting to torturous
narration, which thankfully Edgerton never does), but he never quite figures a
way to let us in. As a result, we don’t fully get sense of who Jared is,
outside of his struggles.
Even so, Edgerton demonstrates a keen sensitivity as a
director, investing his film with an urgency, compassion, and an ultimately
optimistic message of acceptance that will hopefully reach audiences who need
to hear it.
This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2018.
