Judging from the marketing of The Tutor, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the film for a contemporary queer update of a film like The Crush (1993). While not exclusively the purview of the 90s, a film like The Crush – in which an underage “sexpot” with a malicious streak ensnares an older man in her web of sexual intrigue – prospered in the era of Erotic Thrillers, DTV and VCRS.
Films in which adults are tempted into sexual relationships with minors are considered taboo for mainstream contemporary audiences. This is why the marketing of The Tutor was intriguing: the trailer suggests that rich, privileged teen Jackson (Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp) unfairly accuses his working class tutor Ethan (Garrett Hedlund) of improper behaviour. The young man then begins to stalk and effectively ruin the life of the older man, jeopardizing his reputation and the status of his relationship with pregnant girlfriend, Annie (Victoria Justice).
The reality is that The Tutor is (sadly) less queer than its marketing suggests. While Schnapp came out as gay in January 2023 and his upper crust character is queer-coded thanks to a penchant for fashionable turtlenecks, the Ryan King-scripted film is most interested in the economic disparity between the two men.
The Tutor opens with a montage of Ethan engaging with several rich, entitled students. They range from lazy (one boy prefers to practice sword fighting than study) to out of touch (one doesn’t know what a nickel is); the common factor is that Ethan finds a way to make SAT questions relatable to them. In his own words, Ethan’s secret weapon is his “connection” to his pupils.
The fact that this connection is often expressed in physical contact – be it a shoulder squeeze or a high five – is the movie’s way of visually coding that there’s something not quite right about Ethan. He’s also very clearly posturing to fit in with the elite: while the apartment he shares with Victoria is by no means poverty row, Ethan clearly envies and aspires to be like his rich clients, even as he judges and disparages them to his girlfriend and friends. The Tutor’s interest in examining sex, class, and money is made ever more evident in scenes of Ethan’s boss, Chris (Joseph Castillo-Midyett), taking calls at a strip club. Both tutoring and stripping are transactional jobs: service in exchange for money.
The plot kicks in when Ethan lands a deal that’s too good to be true: a week-long trial run wherein he will stay at Jackson’s isolated family mansion with the boy for a daily fee of $2,500. With a baby on the way, Ethan can hardly refuse a month’s pay for a week’s worth of work, so he leaves Annie in NY and travels by chauffeured car into Jackson’s world of temptation.
The red flags show up early and often: in addition to Jackson’s cousin Gavin (Jonny Weston, serving “rough trade” vibes), there are two half-naked 20 somethings, Teddi (Ekaterina Baker) and Jenny (Kabby Borders), who openly hit on Ethan the moment he arrives. Add to this the fact that Jackson requires no help acing his practice tests, and when he doesn’t feel like working, the teen bribes Ethan with increasingly large pay-outs to knock off early.
A series of uncomfortable sequences drive up the tension between Ethan and Jackson, including a fit in which Jackson self-harms and another when he overhears Ethan drunkenly trash-talking him in a very public restaurant.
In another moment that director Jordan Ross films like a nightmare, Ethan eats poisoned fruit, passes out and wakes up drowning in a nearby lake (surprisingly enough, these events are real). These events culminate in both the erosion of Annie’s trust in Ethan, as well as the introduction of Detective Landry (Exie Booker), who begins digging into the skeletons in Ethan’s past.
Up until this point, the film is firmly positioned as a “wrong man” type thriller, in which Ethan is being gaslit by a vengeful teenager with an axe to grind. Then suddenly The Tutor takes a turn and, in its last act, reverts back to a sex-driven thriller the marketing seemed to capitalize on.
It’s not the evocative queer suspense film that was hinted at, but suddenly all of the hallmarks of the Erotic Thriller are back in play: secrets dredged up, the erosion of a formerly stable heterosexual relationship, a shitty Michael Douglas-esque male protagonist, and a nefarious/convoluted murder plot.
One wishes that The Tutor hadn’t meandered so freely in the first act if it were going to attempt to pull the rug out from audiences in the last one, but the reveal of what has been going on (and why) is admirably ambitious, especially considering where the film begins. Hedlund isn’t the most emotive of actors, but he effectively embodies Ethan’s sense of entitlement, jealousy and fading good looks (the actor is hidden beneath atrocious facial hair and a receding hairline). Schnapp, meanwhile, is perfunctory as a mysterious teen with nefarious plans for his male tutor, but the character disappears for long stretches in the bloated middle section, which feels like a missed opportunity to let Schnapp really play unhinged.
As the final member of the trio, Justice initially seems wasted in the pregnant girlfriend role (she spends most of the first two acts talking to Ethan on the phone), but as her partner becomes more embroiled in danger and intrigue, Annie gains surprising gumption and agency.
Overall The Tutor isn’t ground-breaking and it relies too heavily on its last act reveal to justify its meandering middle stretch, but the film’s willingness to commit to its class conflict is admirable. It may not be the queer Erotic Thriller the marketing teased, but at 92 minutes, it’s a solid diversion.
The Tutor is now playing in theaters.
Sex Crimes is a column that explores the legacy of erotic thrillers, from issues of marital infidelity to inappropriate underage affairs to sexualized crimes. In this subgenre, sex and violence are inexplicably intertwined as the dangers of intercourse take on a whole new meaning.
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