Boy Erased Parent Guide

Marshall Eamons (Russell Crowe) is a happy man. He owns a prosperous car dealership, is pastor of a growing congregation, and has a supportive wife, Nancy (Nicole Kidman) and a son, Jared (Lucas Hedges) attending college. Then Marshall receives a phone call, informing him that his son is gay. Stunned and horrified, Marshall turns to other pastors for advice and sends Jared to Love in Action, a treatment center dedicated to repairing the “God shaped hole” in the lives of those with different sexual orientations.

Jared is determined to succeed in the conversion therapy and return to university as a heterosexual. But he soon becomes disillusioned with the way Love in Action operates. Conversion therapy has been increasingly controversial over the past decade as survivors of various programs have shared accounts of abusive and psychologically destructive practices. This certainly describes Jared’s experience as he and his fellow attendees are subjected to cutting remarks, yelling instructors, public shaming, suspicion, and disrespect. They are told that God will not love them unless they change. Most chilling of all is a horrific scene of religious abuse where a gay student is brought to a coffin at the front of the sanctuary and is told that it is for him. He is then beaten with a Bible by his leaders, his parents, and other family members, before being dragged off to a bathtub where he is forcibly baptized.

Boy Erased is a difficult story to tell and director Joel Edgerton (who also plays the program leader) does so in a measured and non-sensational fashion. He also manages to respect Jared’s parents and their faith while clearly demonstrating the harm caused by their choice of therapy for their son. This is not an anti-Christian tirade, but it is certainly a damning indictment of conversion therapy.

Were it not for some serious content issues, this film would get a much higher grade. But parents must be aware that Boy Erased contains an extremely disturbing scene involving sexual assault where a young man is raped when his friend climbs into his bed, covers his mouth, and proceeds to assault him. The two are mostly covered by a blanket, but the victim’s cries are not completely muffled. Sexual assault survivors might be triggered by this scene and almost everyone else will be upset by it. It is completely unsuited to teenage viewers, even mature ones. Other issues in the film are minor, with seven curse words used in situations of extreme stress and some minor social drinking and very occasional smoking.

These content issues are particularly annoying because they prevent this film from being seen by a wider audience. LGBTQ audiences and their allies will almost certainly appreciate the honesty of this film. But Christian viewers might also be interested in learning from Jared’s experiences. And this violent sexual assault makes their attendance much less likely. Boy Erased may well have erased a part of its audience that would be enriched by its perspective.