Film Reviews Issue #31

Stephanie Daley

By Kaylee Hultgren
Published: March 1st, 2007 | 12:00am

Stephanie Daley
Directed by Hilary Brougher

Towering ski slopes, giggling teenagers, snowboarders nonchalantly cruising the trails. An idyllic field trip. Then, the startling image of bloodstained ski pants treading slowly across the snow. Those pants, we soon learn, belong to 16-year-old Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn), who is charged with killing her newborn after giving birth in a bathroom stall during a high-school ski trip. Shockingly, she claims she never knew she was pregnant and that the baby was stillborn.

Forensic psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swilton) is hired to examine the nature of the girl’s unrelenting state of denial, though she herself is six months pregnant and still grappling with the memory of a stillborn baby. As Lydie’s confidence in her fledging marriage and her grip on reality declines, she begins to realize that Stephanie’s fate is somehow intertwined with her own.

Though we’ve all heard the headlines of teen pregnancies gone disastrously wrong, writer-director Hillary Brougher refrains from sensationalizing and instead paints a devastatingly realistic portrayal of a potentially monstrous act. Cinematographer David Morrison’s use of bright, natural lighting demands the utmost naturalism from the talented cast, who deliver masterful performances under Brougher’s unflinching eye.

Daley boldly tackles several topical hotbed issues — abortion, abstinence, separation of church and state — but, to its credit, avoids passing judgment. Brougher does a marvelous job of breaking the silence by invoking a topic highly publicized by the media, yet rarely explored with such depth and sensitivity.