Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe in Boy Erased (Focus Features)

Actor Joel Edgerton directs this family drama-cum-exposé, based on the 2016 book by Garrard Conley, Boy Erased: A Memoir, which centers on the author’s experience as a 19-year-old at Love in Action, a Christian ministry with the objective of turning homosexuals into ex-gays. It may already be a cliché to say that a movie directed by an actor-turned-director emphasizes the characters above all else and, as a result, the acting stands out (as in Paul Dano’s Wildlife). Well, this holds true here, too, which is hardly surprising given a cast that includes Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman.

Crowe and Kidman play the well-to-do Arkansas parents of an only child, Jared Eamons, played by Lucas Hedges, who confirms that he is one of the most insightful, understated, yet go-for-broke young actors around. His performance keeps the film moving forward even when some of the supporting cast doesn’t quite have his depth or range, or when the director reverts to slo-mo sequences at certain dramatic turning points, which unnecessarily underlines tension and impedes the momentum.

Though the film centers on gay conversion therapy, it’s not so much a message movie as a perceptive depiction of fear running riot and beating down rationality. At its best, the film dissects how an organization with dubious mental health credentials and a reliance on pseudo-science could function and seemingly thrive. Teens and young adults surrender their rights: upon entering the facility every morning, they hand over their cell phones to be examined at random—texts, photos, and contacts—by the administration. All of their private journals are to be read for any implication of “same sex attraction,” in the center’s parlance, and they are monitored even when they are in the bathroom. The day-to-day functioning of the center is reliant on the submission and obedience to Reverend Victor Sykes, played by Edgerton, besides exploiting the vulnerability of those in its care. It’s as though the kids and their parents assume, or hope, that Sykes knows what he’s doing.

At first, Jared wants to change. A member of his father’s Baptist congregation, he wants his parents’ approval, and so after initially denying that he’s gay, Jared, of his own volition, comes clean to them and admits he’s attracted to men. He’s honest and without guile. He even says thank you at the end of the day when he gets back his phone from his Love in Action keepers.

Though they have supporting roles here, both Crowe and Kidman enrich the film and add a lot of nuance to what otherwise could have been a straightforward coming-out and coming-of-age narrative. Besides resembling Conley’s real-life folks, they add another kind of verisimilitude in their heartfelt performances. Crowe’s character complicates the resolution by not surrendering to a tidy resolution. (It’s as though this father figure tries to calm himself down and not explode during the confrontations with his son.) Along with this role, Kidman has single-handedly become the go-to Southern belle, after Paperboy and The Beguiled, all of which have undermine any perception of her as an ice princess. Along her maternal role in Lion, she has thawed out, becoming warmer and, dare I say, more vulnerable.

This is the second film this year to deal with gay conversion therapy, the first being the very good adaptation of Emily M. Danforth’s YA novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post, starring Chloë Grace Moretz and directed by Desiree Akhavan. Its screenwriters were faithful to the source material and expanded the narrative, inventing scenes that raised the tension. In Boy Erased, Jared faces a harder struggle and a longer road to self-acceptance; he’s an insider in his religious community (unlike Cameron Post). He’s also 19, with more legal options, and attends college. He knows he has a choice, and at first he believes in the program; by contrast, Cameron slouches from step to step, looking askance.

However, there’s no reason to offer an either/or proposition here, as the two films boast excellent casts and are well directed, making both worth seeing.