'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Dear Evan Hansen, the cinematic adaptation of the super successful Broadway musical, was released in theaters on September 24. The movie follows a teenager named Evan Hansen who manipulates a series of misunderstandings to work in his favor. The Dear Evan Hansen movie may have set out to spread mental health awareness, but ended up becoming a long narrative of a desperate and devious teen.
Stars of Dear Evan Hansen include Ben Platt, who also played the titular role on Broadway, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Nik Dodani, Kaitlyn Dever, and Colton Ryan.
'Dear Evan Hansen' plot summary
Based on a book penned by Steven Levenson, the story of Dear Evan Hansen focuses on a 17-year-old, socially anxious teenager, with a broken arm. Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) is a lonely and anxious teen who has been advised by his therapist to write encouraging, peppy letters to himself. The problem began when one unpleasant day he wrote a bleak letter that fell into the hands of Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), another troubled teenager.
Connor ended up taking his own life and his parents found the letter, which they assumed was his suicide note, addressed to Evan. Thus, they came to believe that Evan was Connor's only friend. To learn more about their deceased son, the Murphys (Amy Adams and Danny Pino) invited Evan for dinner.
The idea of family, love, and belongingness are lacking in Evan's life, which is why when he gets all that from the Murphys, he lies and manipulates to keep it that way. One of the lies central to his story was about visiting Connor's favorite place, an apple orchard.
Dear Evan Hansen is essentially an unsettling narrative of a teenager who misuses the trust of a grieving family to make friends and become popular. His swindle eventually comes to an end and he begins his journey of self-discovery. All of it is punctuated by solo musical performances.
What happened at the end of 'Dear Evan Hansen'?
All was well for Evan Hansen, who became a viral sensation and managed to gather more than 21,000 followers on Instagram. He cashed in on his fake friendship with a dead peer to become the poster kid for mental health awareness.
Alana Black (Amandla Stenberg), is probably the only person in Dear Evan Hansen who seemed to care about Connor's memory. She organized a memorial for him and also started The Connor Project along with Evan. But she soon became suspicious of his forged friendship with Connor by figuring out some inconsistencies in his story.
To keep the con going, Evan forwarded her the letter that had been misconstrued as Connor's suicide note by his parents. He asked her to keep it a secret since only the Murphys knew about the letter. However, Alana was more concerned about the shortage of funds for The Connor Project and saw the letter as the only way to get more funds.
Once she posted the letter on social media, it went viral and Connor's parents received extreme criticism from everyone. It was at this point that the guilt became too overwhelming for Evan and he came clean to the Murphys. The confession marked the beginning of a journey of self-discovery for him.
Evan realized that he had hurt so many people just to save himself from the pain of loneliness and decided to make amends, starting with his mother. He told her the real story behind his broken arm and how his poor mental health had caused him to hurt others too.
Evan asks "how do I step into the Sun?" in the song "Words Fail," which is a musical monolog, in which he admits guilt and wrongdoing. In an effort to redeem himself, Evan decided to get to know Connor posthumously, since he failed to do it while he was living.
He shared his findings with others as well, and finally visited the apple orchard for the first time with Zoe, Connor's sister. At the end of Dear Evan Hansen, it seems, he did manage to step into the sun.
