| Product Summary | | Publisher: GENIUS PRODUCTS, INC | | Format: DVD | | UPC: 00796019804820 | | Buy.com Sku: 204939560 | | Item#: V2K2HH | | Category Keywords: Teenagers | Rating:  |
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| | | The Truth is What We Believe.
Features: DVD, Widescreen
When 16 year-old Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn) faces murder charges in connection with the death of her baby, pregnant forensic-psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) is tapped to unravel the truth. The teen claims to have been unaware of her condition, but as their sessions intensify, Stephanie's state of denial and Lydie's fears regarding her own pregnancy reveal a destiny that intertwines them both.
"The Best Film of 2007." Ain't It Cool News
"Terrific performances." David Ansen, NewsWeek
"Tamblyn's surprisingly measured performance commands attention." Janice Page, Boston Globe
"...a marvel of authentic disturbance." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"If America still has a heart beating, then surely it will pound for Stephanie Daley." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
In STEPHANIE DALEY, Amber Tamblyn and Tilda Swinton turn in remarkable performances as a young girl accused of murdering her infant and the pregnant forensic psychologist assigned to her case. When Stephanie is found trailing blood in the snow on a high school ski trip, the media quickly latches onto the story, labeling her the "Ski Mom." While evaluating 16-year-old Stephanie before the criminal trial, 40-year-old Lydie (Swinton) is also grappling with worries over her own troubled pregnancy. Having given birth to a stillborn years before, Lydie is still coming to terms with what that loss meant for her and her marriage to an increasingly distant husband (Timothy Hutton). The film unfolds in a nonlinear way, with scenes of the two women's discussions opening up to flashbacks of the months preceding the baby's supposedly unexpected birth (and death), and to scenes from each woman's current situation. What makes STEPHANIE DALEY so moving is how ordinary the title character is. Like so many adolescent girls, Stephanie is smart, shy, and when it comes to the adult world of sex, dangerously naive. Stephanie adamantly denies that she killed her baby, and explains the events of the previous year with a sadness and resignation that speak of so many female adolescent experiences. In a scene that depicts Stephanie's first sexual encounter, director Hilary Brougher perfectly captures that moment when good reason gives way to peer pressure, youthful curiosity, and a lack of confidence. Where such an experience would leave any girl feeling used and disappointed, it leaves Stephanie with a problem so great she can't even admit it until it's too late. The film uses graphic scenes powerfully, and while never passing judgment on its characters, raises important issues about a woman's right to choose and about womanhood itself.
| Features | Audio Commentaries | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Stereo | | Deleted Scenes | | Featurette: The Making Of Stephanie Daley | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: Spanish | | Trailers |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Stephanie Daley - DVD Review By: Chris Cabin - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 9/11/2007 12:02 AM | |
As film subjects go, newborn death and its connections to the abortion debate are about as easy to approach as a pit of bible-carrying vipers. Though its plot comes straight from the Lifetime channel production line, the truth of the situation presented becomes more fleshed out and personal but nevertheless controversial to anyone who has followed similar stories on the nightly news. As one would guess, it's with careful steps that filmmaker Hilary Brougher takes on this subject in her sophomore effort Stephanie Daley....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: GENIUS PRODUCTS, INC |
| Release Date: 4/15/2008 |
| Running Time: 92 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2007 | | Catalog ID: 80482 | | UPC: 00796019804820 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Nominee (2007) | | | Independent Spirit, Amber Tamblyn, Best Supporting Female | |
Winner (2006) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Hilary Brougher, Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award | |
Nominee (2006) | | | Sundance Film Festival, Hilary Brougher, Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic |
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| | Professional Reviews | Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[T]he film's revelation is Amber Tamblyn, who gives a shattering performance....A most original drama..." 03/01/2007 p.105Entertainment Weekly
"Shot in a pinpoint, suggestive handheld style, this lacerating drama from writer-director Hilary Brougher shines a piercing light onto some of the hidden terrors of women..." -- Grade: A- 04/27/2007 p.120 New York Times
"Keenly intelligent, sensitive and self-protective, Ms. Swinton's Lydie is as fully realized as Ms. Tamblyn's Stephanie." 04/18/2007 p.E14 USA Today
3 stars out of 4 -- "Tamblyn delivers one of the year's most praised performances..." 09/07/2007 p.9E Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "This extended character study is thought-provoking, muted and mesmerising." 11/01/2007 p.191 Variety 8 of 10
A ripped-from-the-headlines premise -- a teenage mother accused of killing her newborn -- provides the catalyst for a taut, provocative, sometimes overreaching but always absorbing thriller in "Stephanie Daley," the highly accomplished sophomore feature from writer-director Hilary Brougher. Built around knockout lead performances by Tilda Swinton and erstwhile "Joan of Arcadia" star Amber Tamblyn, pic brushes up against hot-button issues from teen pregnancy and sex ed to the separation of church and state, without turning into an "issues" picture...In a gripping opening, 16-year-old Stephanie (Tamblyn) tracks through the snow during a high school ski club retreat, leaving a trail of blood. She collapses and is rushed to the hospital, where it is discovered she has just given birth...The flashbacks, which show Stephanie's high-school life and the party at which she loses her virginity, recall "The Last Picture Show" in their awkward adolescent sexuality. The scenes between Stephanie and her parents are uncommonly truthful in their feel for that teenage tug-of-war between freedom and supervision. And the ultimate depiction of Stephanie's bathroom-stall labor is as unnerving a cinematic set piece as anything this side of a Michael Haneke movie -- all the more so for Brougher's refusal to tell us how we should feel toward Stephanie. - Scott Foundas
Reel.com 8 of 10
An appropriately forlorn, wintry pall hangs over Stephanie Daley, Hilary Brougher's impressively subtle and non-judgmental exploration of disturbing, tabloid-friendly subject matter: a teenaged girl accused of infanticide. There's not a whiff of exploitation or sensationalism in Brougher's wisely restrained character study, which delineates the impact of the crime on both the title character and a pregnant forensic psychologist reviewing her case. The winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Brougher's long overdue follow-up to The Sticky Fingers of Time (1997) is a somber and intriguingly ambiguous film, marred, albeit slightly, by Brougher's overly diagrammatic approach to her narrative...Last seen battling ghosts in The Grudge 2 (2006), Amber Tamblyn gives a quietly wrenching performance as Brougher's title character, a prototypical small town "nice girl" who allegedly murdered her newborn while on a high school ski trip...That Stephanie Daley ultimately stays with you is chiefly due to Tamblyn, late of television's Joan of Arcadia. She gives a penetrating, stunningly unaffected performance that should be remembered, come award season. - Tim Knight
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