‘Luce’ Satisfies Without Giving Any Answers

Some movies are simple. You’ve got a hero and a villain, there’s some sort of conflict, and everyone lives happily ever after. And then there are movies like Luce.

Luce is about a teenage boy named Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr. from It Comes at Night) who was adopted from war-torn Eritrea as a child by parents Amy (The Impossible’s Naomi Watts) and Peter (The Hateful Eight’s Tim Roth). He’s always been a model child, getting exceptional grades, excelling at debate, and becoming a star athlete on the school track team. But when Luce’s history teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer from Ma), shares a disturbing assignment with his parents, red flags are raised. Amy and Peter start to think that maybe their perfect son isn’t quite so perfect.

Luce was directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) from a script that he wrote with J.C. Lee (“How to Get Away with Murder”) and based on a play by Lee. It’s a compelling and confined mystery, surprisingly economic while still managing to paint a bigger picture. The story alternates shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin and Apt Pupil, but rather than take the dark turn that those movies do, Luce instead always keeps the viewer on their toes, constantly forcing them to question what they’re seeing and hearing. It’s manipulative, but in the best possible way.

The constantly shifting dynamic leads to serious trust issues, both for the characters and for the audience. As Amy and Peter dive into the details of their son’s life, they uncover secrets and lies which cause them to doubt their instincts. But Wilson seems to have an agenda of her own, and once Luce is confronted by his parents, the burden of proof shifts to his teacher. It’s hard to keep track of who’s supposed to be the protagonist and who’s supposed to be the antagonist in Luce, and that’s pretty much the point.

In one pivotal scene, Luce invites Wilson to observe a debate team practice where he subliminally confronts her about her actions with him and her philosophies towards her students. At first, Wilson just thinks she’s watching an intelligent kid make an airtight argument, but as things progress, she sees the event for what it is: a ruse to test her. She fights back, albeit as calmly as a high school teacher should in that situation, and it’s almost like a dance. None of the other students or teachers know the backstory, so it becomes a subtle chess match of words. Then, Luce politely thanks her for her help. And although Luce seems to have the upper hand, no winner is declared.

And that’s a running theme with Luce. At the risk of spoiling the unspoilable, the movie provides no solution to its mystery. The ambiguous ending hinges completely on who the audience believes. Who is more convincing, Luce or Wilson? Does Wilson have a crazy vendetta against Luce, or is Luce really the problem child that she makes him out to be? Luce doesn’t serve up any real answers, but it doesn’t matter. It’s still a very satisfying movie.