The Miseducation of Cameron Post(2018)
FilmRise Aug 3, 2018 | Limited
In 1993, a teenage girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center by her conservative guardians.
Releases
Original Release | Aug 3, 2018
Box Office
Results
$48,638
$904,703
$569,874
$1,474,577
Current Showtimes
Your Location or
(U.S. Only)
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United Kingdom,United States
Language: English
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Set in the year 1993, Cameron Post (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a high school junior living in a small town in Pennsylvania. She lives with her Aunt Ruth (Kerry Butler) ever since her parents died. She attends Bible study and makes out with her best friend Coley (Quinn Shepherd) after school. At the homecoming dance, Cameron and Coley sneak away from the dance into their car where they smoke weed and start having lesbian sex... with Coley fingering Cameron. But they are interrupted when Cameron's homecoming date Jamie discovers them. Ruth finds out, presumably from Jamie, and distraught, decides to send Cameron to "God's Promise," a religious gay conversion camp located in rural upstate New York for young people who "struggle with same-sex attraction."At the camp, Cameron meets the cheerful Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.) who introduces Cameron to her room and her roommate, Erin (Emily Skeggs), whose side of the room is decorated with Minnesota Vikings paraphernalia. He explains she will get decorating and mail privileges later on. He checks her bag, removing a cassette tape she brought, and makes her sign her contract with the facility. The students are known as "disciples." That night, Cameron dreams of the first time she had sex with Coley while they were watching a video, but is awoken by the staff's nightly flashlight checks into the room to make sure the disciples are in their rooms.The next day, Erin shows Cameron around the lunchroom and tells her about the other students. Erin is peppy and genuinely believes that God's Promise can fix her. She explains that Reverend Rick once too experienced same-sex attractions, but overcame them. On her first day of class, the director of the camp, Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) introduces herself to Cameron, welcoming her to God's Promise.Cameron goes for a run every morning, and one morning spies two other disciples, Adam (Forrest Goodluck) and Jane (Sasha Lane) sneaking into a cellar and smoking weed. Later, she has her first counseling session with Rick and Lydia. They give her a drawing of an iceberg, explaining that the same-sex attraction is the tip, but they need to examine the reasons underneath. They ask her to fill her iceberg out, and she goes and looks at the icebergs of other students, learning about how they ended up at God's Promise. Jane, a free spirit, catches her looking at hers, and tells Cameron to write whatever she thinks they want to hear. Cameron tells her she saw Jane and Adam smoking and asks where she got the weed. Jane tells her she grows it herself and invites her to join them sometime.While on a field trip, Cameron sees Jane steal a music cassette, and briefly decides to do the same - until she sees Erin spot her briefly. She puts the cassette back, but Erin insists on telling the adults, insisting she is doing it for Cameron's own good, trying to help her fight sin. Another disciple, Mark (Owen Campbell), helps convince Erin not to say anything and to keep it between them all. Erin begrudgingly agrees, and Cameron thanks Mark. Cameron begins hanging out with Adam and Jane regularly, going on long hikes. They share stories of their pasts, and Cameron wonders why they don't just leave. They explain that since their families sent them there, they have nowhere else to go - it's God's Promise or be on the streets. They also tell Cameron that Lydia is Rick's sister - she used to be a regular therapist until Rick became her patient zero. They ask Cameron about Coley, and Jane thinks it's unfair that Cameron is punished while nothing happened to Coley, but Cameron defends her.During a sharing group therapy exercise out in the football field, disciple Helen (Melanie Ehrlich) becomes angry because she feels Cameron isn't trying hard enough, which draws Lydia's attention. They press Cameron to talk about Coley, and when Cameron talks about how perfect she was as both a friend and lover, Lydia explains to Cameron that because she wanted to be like her, she confused it with being with her. Later alone, Lydia tells Cameron her success is dependent on her putting more work in.On another field trip, Cameron sneaks away and calls Coley, who asks if Cameron got the letter she sent. Cameron has to hang up before she can find out more. Later back at the camp, a group of disciples is doing chores in the kitchen, and they change the radio from Christian music to "What's Going On." Cameron gets up on the table and leads her peers in a sing-a-long, but they are discovered by Lydia, who orders Cameron to come with her to her office. She gives Cameron her mail, telling her she should read it. Inside is a letter from Coley, where she claims Cameron took advantage of their friendship to try to change her into a lesbian. It is here that Cameron realizes that Coley was the one who outed her and their sexual tryst to Aunt Ruth... not Jamie as Cameron assumed after they were discovered in the backseat of the car by Jamie that night of the prom. Cameron tells Adam and Jane all about the letter and wonders if Coley is right about everything and if she (Cameron) is a messed up person. Jane tears up the letter and tells Cameron to forget about Coley, who was a rat and in denial to her sexual identity. But Cameron is still shaken and calls Ruth in tears, asking if she can come home. Ruth tells her no, that she's doing this for her own good and that she loves her.After that, Cameron starts putting more effort in. She fills in her iceberg and begins working out with Erin regularly to Christian-themed exercise videos. She has a dream where she is making out with her teacher but is shaken awake by Erin, who says she heard Cameron making noises and knows what she was dreaming about. Cameron denies it, but Erin won't back down and then kisses Cameron. The two frantically have sex until climax, but the moment it is over Erin shuts down and retreats to her own bed, telling Cameron she wants to get better.At a group therapy session, Mark, who had been scheduled to go back home at semester's end, reveals a letter from his father who refuses to let him come him. His father writes that he is still too effeminate and an embarrassment to him and the entire family. Mark begins screaming and throwing a fit while Lydia yells at him to calm down.That night, Cameron is awoken by faint ambulance sirens in the distance. She get up and goes to use the bathroom and finds the floor is covered in blood.The next day, the counselors tell the disciples that Mark tried to harm himself but was found by his roommate Adam and taken to a hospital. One on one, Cameron asks Rick to tell her exactly what happened, and he confesses that Mark used a razor to cut his genitals and then poured bleach on his wounds. Cameron accuses Rick and the staff of not knowing what they're doing and making it up as they go along, and Rick cries and says he doesn't have a good answer for her.An investigator comes to check the conditions at the camp. Interviewing Cameron, he asks if she feels safe and trusts the staff. She says no, and when he presses for actual incidents of abuse, she says that while they may not beat the disciples, teaching them all to hate themselves is emotional abuse.Early the next morning, Cameron, Adam, and Jane get up and have cereal for breakfast. Rick sees them and wonders why they're up so early. They say they're going on a day-long hike, and he says goodbye warmly. Once in the woods, they change out of their uniforms and hitchhike a ride in the back up a pick-up truck away from God's Promise. Finally free, the three teens smile and laugh as they head off into the future.
Storyline
- Pennsylvania, 1993. After getting caught with another girl, teenager Cameron Post is sent to a conversion therapy center run by the strict Dr. Lydia Marsh and her brother, Reverend Rick, whose treatment consists in repenting for feeling "same sex attraction." Cameron befriends fellow sinners Jane and Adam, thus creating a new family to deal with the surrounding intolerance.
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