Trust or: The Dangers of Modern Sexual Predators & the Double Standards within American Society (Film Analysis)

My opinions have vastly changed throughout the 2010s, with film being no exception.  There was a time where I consider Trust to be my favorite film of 2011, placing it right above the likes of Take Shelter, Drive, and The Tree of Life.  Those feelings have since changed, with Trust no longer standing above these films.  There was something about Trust that profoundly affected me during the beginning of the decade that, upon rewatching, has not been replicated nearing the end.  Yet while I no longer see Trust as the masterpiece of filmmaking I once considered it,  I do see it as a powerful film that explores how sexual predators work within our modern technological society, as well as an examination of the double standards found within American society.

Trust first released back in the year 2010, when technology was blossoming into its newest phase, becoming a much more integrated part of our daily communication.  Chat rooms and texting were becoming more and more popular and available to the teenage demographic, as were the growing dangers found within them.  The old-fashioned warnings of stranger danger where parents biggest concern was some shady ice cream truck owner abducting their kid (though, in reality, the biggest threats to children came far more frequently from the people they knew) were becoming less prominent to the increasing dangers presented in advancing technology.

Director David Schwimmer's goal with Trust was to showcase just how dangerous these new situations could get, and how sexual predators could work in a manner that parents may not expect.  Schwimmer based the story on over fourteen years of involvement with The Rape Foundation and several years of research.  As such, the predator presented in the film Charlie (Chris Henry Coffey) is an amalgamation of the "perfect" hunter.  A monster that knows and uses every trick in the book, because he's based on every trick in the book.  His target is fourteen-year-old Annie Cameron (Liana Liberato), an insecure teenager just starting off in high school.  Charlie at first pretends to be a sixteen-year-old high school student, barraging Annie with compliments through an online chat room and then later through direct texting.  He has a fully thought out backstory that impresses Annie’s parents when they ask about him:

Brother: So, seriously, what's this guy's deal?

Annie: Well, he's smart. And funny. His brother's being recruited by UC Berkeley for football and that's where he wants to go, but for volleyball.

Dad: What do his parents do?

Annie: His mom teaches kids with autism and his dad works for ESPN.

After drawing Annie in, Charlie slowly begins to bring her into his lies, starting with the "reveal" that he's really twenty and a sophomore in college (even sending her fake pictures of an attractive college student).  He claims to have lied because he didn't want to sound preachy giving advice because he plays college volleyball.  This is the first red flag for Annie, yet she continues their relationship, now playing a part in his lies by hiding his real age from her parents.  Annie's lifestyle is perfect for Charlie to take full advantage of.  Her normal insecurities are only increased by the promiscuous nature of the popular plastics that go to her school.  When she tries to talk to her dad about them, he's too busy to listen, yet Charlie is there for her—even personally calling her.  The lies continue when Charlie ages again to be a twenty-five-year-old grad student before finally revealing himself to be a man in his thirties.  The reveal understandably causes Annie to cry, yet the charismatic, manipulative Charlie is able to make her stay and even flip the situation onto her:

Annie: Why do you keep lying to me?

Charlie: Because of this. I was, I was afraid that you wouldn't be mature enough to understand. Annie, when you connect with someone the way that we connected when you find a soul mate the way that we found each other then nothing else matters. I thought you were old enough to understand that. I mean, you made me think you could handle this, Annie. I mean, this is ridiculous. I mean, it's me, Charlie. The same guy that you've been talking to every day and every night for the last two months. I love you. Annie. And I don't get why age has to change that.

The man is a master at his evil craft, completing it with loads of flattery, taking her out for snacks, teaching her the “secret Delta handshake” from his college.  The two eventually go to a hotel, where an all too realistically terrifying scene occurs where Charlie gets Annie to put on some revealing lingerie and then has his way with her.  Make no mistake, the scene is rape.  The scene would be rape even if Annie was of age.  Charlie has successfully groomed Annie, to the point where even if she doesn't want to have sex, she will to make Charlie happy.

The scene is terrifying to watch, with Coffey doing a frighteningly effective job portraying the predator, staring at Annie perversely and gradually overwhelming her as she initially pleads him to stop yet ultimately submits to his will.  Annie’s actress Liana Liberato was around fifteen at the time of making Trust.  Director Schwimmer wanted Annie to be played by an actual underaged teenager; "there is a danger, if you cast someone who is eighteen, nineteen or twenty to play fourteen or fifteen, that very subtly, almost unconsciously, the audience is, 'Oh, this isn't so bad.'"  Schwimmer is certainly right in his assumption, and having someone who is and/or looks the age does make the scene and situation all the more realistically frightening.  At the same time, it's very uncomfortable knowing an actual young teenager had to film such a disturbing scene with a full-grown adult.  The rape scene was filmed last to ensure a safe environment for Liberto, yet I still have mixed feelings about the scene.  Seeing a full-grown adult pretend to lecherously look at, lustfully embrace, and then kiss a fifteen-year-old so convincingly is...well it doesn't feel entirely right even if it's all acting.

Whether right or wrong, the scene certainly gets its terrifying point across.  Charlie immediately ceases all contact with Annie after getting what he wants.  Fortunately, one of Annie's friends noticed her and Charlie at the mall and—after seeing Annie acting zoned out—tells her teachers who, in turn, tell the police.  The police quickly arrive and take her to treatment, though I must say, the cops blatantly taking her right out the school’s front doors for all her classmates to see is a really stupid and insensitive decision.  The FBI is immediately on the case, trying to have Annie contact Charlie for another meeting.  Annie, however, has been successfully groomed and becomes upset at them for trying to make her trick him—even noting how Charlie is sweet and that her dad would like him.

Speaking of which, her father Will (Clive Owen) is another important piece of the story.  The film uses Will to effectively explore the double standards of such an event.  Will is too engrossed at looking at his "failure to protect" Annie that he ends up neglecting his daughter's very sensitive feelings and traumatic experience—making the situation even worse.  Will wants to be the hero, the John Wayne cowboy saving Jodie Foster from the Big Bad Wolf.  He dreams of buying a gun then torturing and killing the man responsible.  He begins looking through the National Sex Offender Registry and becomes paranoid about those on the list that live near him.  He has nightmares of the incident, imagining Annie struggling and screaming for her dad to help as the man submits her to all his sick desires.

Will cannot understand the idea that Annie quietly let Charlie have his way without a struggle—that she's been groomed and actually views him as someone who cares for her.  He blatantly calls Charlie a monster to her face, noting how he tricked her (implying that she fell for it like a fool), and how he's going to kill Charlie.  In his mindset, such actions are the best course for making the situation better, for ultimately redeeming himself as a protector.  In reality, they are only making things way worse.  Will gets furious when he sees all the promiscuous sentences Annie sent to Charlie through text, yet not only did he neglect Annie when she personally came to discuss how the girls at her school are doing the same thing, but he's completely fine with his son interacting in similar ways (such as being proud that he owns Playboy magazines).

The true irony is that Will works at a corporation that specializes in making promiscuous tween clothing line.  Earlier in the film, Will and his boss Al (Noah Emmerich) joke around about getting with an, of age yet far-younger waitress.   When Will reveals to Al about what happened to Annie, his boss becomes relieved after hearing that the situation was "consensual":

Will: It's Annie. She was sexually assaulted.

Al: What? Oh, my God. I had no idea, Will.

Will: She's fine. I mean, she wasn't, but she's okay.

Al: They catch the guy?

Will: They're looking for him. They started with the crime scene in the motel. 

Al: Jesus. She was kidnapped?

Will: No, she—She sort of knew the guy.

Al: I—I don't understand.

Will: It was someone she met online someone she'd been talking to for a while.

Al: Oh, I thought you meant she was like attacked, you know. I—You scared the shit out of me.

Will: She was raped. She's 14. The guy's in his 30s.

Al: I know, I know. It's just that I was picturing—Well, you don't wanna know what I was picturing. Could have been much worse.

It takes several very strongly-worded speeches from several characters such as Annie and her mom (Catherine Keener), for Will to get it through his thick skull that he's been going about everything the completely wrong way and to make a tearful apology to Annie for the way he's been behaving.  

It’s Trust’s final scene that leaves the audience with its most haunting impact as it's revealed that Charlie is actually a high school physics teacher named Graham Weston—a man that is happily married with a son and respected by his students.  Graham never gets caught, a showcasing that not all devils get their just deserts, nor do they all openly show their horns.  Trust is a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of modern sexual predators, for both parents and children.  The film also equally explores the dangers of double standards that plague American society (and all societies in general) and how such toxic nature can make already bad situations even worse. The film urges children and teenagers to be more cautious towards who they talk to and trust on the internet.  It urges parents to be more involved and their children’s lives, to listen to them, and to try putting themselves in their kids’s shoes to better understand them regardless of gender.  Trust may no longer be my favorite film of 2011, but it is still a powerful, important piece of work.