Issues that pertain to women and girls are rarely approached in Hollywood. At least not in an authentic way. Take the issue of the sexual assault of underage teen girls by adult men. Hollywood gives us Lolita and a bevy of other seductress “teens” who, often enough, are played by older female actors.  In these films, the sexual exploitation of teen girls is misrepresented, romanticized and eroticized. Meanwhile, teen girls have little voice.

“Trust” is a different sort of film. The movie is about the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and how this assault impacts both her and her family.  Clive Owens plays the Dad, who is haunted and enraged by his inability to protect his daughter, Annie from a 35-year-old sexual predator named “Charlie.” Annie, played brilliantly by Liana Liberato, meets Charlie in an online chat forum and the chats quickly turn romantic.

But their virtual relationship is based on deception, as Charlie first pretends to be 16, then 20 and then 25. The lies continue until the day that Annie agrees to meet Charlie at the mall, only to discover that Charlie is old enough to be her father. At this point Annie is both frightened and mesmerized by a man who has falsely seduced her. He then takes her to a motel and rapes her.

Director David Schwimmer (formerly of the hit sitcom “Friends”) has long taken on the issue of rape. For the past 10 years he has been on the Board of the Rape Foundation, an organization that helps rape victims and educates the public about rape. He became passionate about this issue after learning that several of his female friends and a former girlfriend were victims of rape and sexual assault.

Schwimmer’s deep concern and understanding of this issue shows in the direction of this movie. When asked in an interview why he did not hire an older actor to play Annie, he responded, ”There is a danger, if you cast someone who is 18, 19 or 20 to play 14 or 15, that very subtly, almost unconsciously, the audience is, “Oh, this isn’t so bad.” But, when you see Liana [Liberato], who at the time was 14, there is an inexperience and innocence that you can’t act and you can’t fake.”

Schwimmer spent 7 years researching for this film and discovered much about the psychology of this sort of deception. He stated:

I think I stumbled upon a lot of surprising things that we tried to communicate in the film, such as the unique psychology of a grooming victim. Liana’s character, Annie, must to the frustration and pain of the parents, was defending the relationship and protecting the guy. In many of these cases, a lot of these kids continue to secretly contact the predator. By that time, it’s not unlike Stockholm Syndrome, where they have developed an incredible intimacy and emotional relationship as well, by that point. And then, the realization that the character makes by the end, that she was just a victim, is devastating.

The aggressively sexual world that girls confront today is portrayed throughout the film. While Owen’s character is haunted by his daughter’s rape, he earns his money promoting hyper-sexualized advertising campaigns targeted at tweens. This is a world where children can access pornography with just a few clicks and Schwimmer’s  motivation is clear: “This movie is about parenting, in the age of technology.”

“Trust” will inspire viewers to discuss issues such as the sexualization of teen and tween girls by our media, consent versus rape, sexting, online assault, the face of sexual predators and how to protect our girls. Despite no nudity or gratuitous sexual imagery during the rape scene, “Trust” has earned an R rating, which is unfortunate since the very demographic that needs to see this film (teenagers) may be blocked from doing so. But if I could have my way, every high school health education class in the country would be viewing and discussing this film.