Stephanie Daley
Encyclopedia
Stephanie Daley — retitled What She Knew for US television — is an award-winning 2006 film
starring Amber Tamblyn
, Melissa Leo
, Tilda Swinton
and Timothy Hutton
. The film, which received a limited release in North America
on April 20, 2007, focuses on the issue of teenage pregnancy
. Stephanie Daley was developed at the Sundance Writers' and Filmmakers' Lab, and premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival
, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The film also earned Tamblyn a nomination for best supporting female at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards
and the Leopard prize for best actress at the 2006 Locarno
film festival.
trip. A doctor discovers that in the blood is afterbirth
. Soon afterward, the body of a newborn baby girl is found in a toilet
, its mouth blocked with toilet paper. Despite Stephanie's insistence that her child was stillborn
and that she had no idea that she was pregnant
, she is arrested for the murder
of the child and becomes known as the Ski-Mom.
Awaiting trial, Stephanie is interviewed by a psychologist
, Lydie Crane, who is also about 30 weeks pregnant with a son. She suspects her husband is having an affair after finding an earring that doesn't belong to her in their home; their marriage has been on the rocks since she gave birth to a stillborn child three months before she conceived
the child she is now pregnant with. As Stephanie discusses her sexual history and her relationship with her parents and her child, Lydie is forced to face her hitherto buried emotions about her own child.
Through her interviews with Lydie, Stephanie talks about the father of her baby, Cory, a boy she met at party and then slept with and never saw again because he enlisted in the Marines. When Lydie asks Stephanie if she knew she was pregnant; Stephanie avoids the questions and claims she was being "punished" by God because she was "weak", and that the pregnancy was a "test". Visibly annoyed at this, Lydie reveals to Stephanie that she had a baby girl a year before who had been stillborn, and asks Stephanie what she thinks Lydie was being punished for. Stephanie replies "you tell me."
The truth is told through flashbacks, when Stephanie is on the ski trip at her school, (none of her friends know of her pregnancy; and she doesn't reveal it to anyone) she begins to go into labour and makes it to the bathroom; where she quietly but painfully delivers the child on her own, and it is revealed through Lydie's explanation that the baby fell into the leg of Stephanie's ski pants. Stephanie says she wrapped the baby in toilet paper and left it there; but still maintains she was dead.
Meanwhile, Lydie confronts her husband about the affair; and he claims he has not slept with anyone; but has indeed thought about it. He also blames the problems in their marriage on Lydie having not properly grieved for their stillborn daughter (she confides in a friend that when their stillborn daughter was cremated, in a fit of anger during an argument with her husband on the drive home, Lydie opened the window and just tossed the ashes out) and that she does not truly want the baby she is carrying. Lydie screams in his face that she does want the child.
Soon before her trial, Stephanie is getting a glass of water and a car drives by her house with drunk young men in it who scream out "be the mother of my baby!" and drive off laughing, Stephanie having gained notoriety as being the Ski-Mom. This event makes Stephanie break the glass in her hand and cut her palm; severely upsetting her mother.
Before the trial begins, Stephanie returns to Lydie and says she is going to accept a plea bargain. Lydie states that she thinks this is a good idea and reaches out to shake Stephanie's hand when she notices the cut and asks what happened. Stephanie then tearfully admits the truth to Lydie, that her baby girl was alive when she delivered her, but was so small, and "her breathing was all wrong", and so in her mind she told her child to die; and she did. And Stephanie believes she did kill her baby with her mind. Lydie hugs Stephanie, and thanks her.
The DVD release contains a "Making of" featurette; the writer-director expresses her satisfaction with the open-ended portrayal and ending, so that the viewers can bring their own interpretation to the material, and be left pondering afterwards. The official website tagline is "The Truth is what we believe."http://www.stephaniedaley-themovie.com/
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
starring Amber Tamblyn
Amber Tamblyn
Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and poet. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine, followed by a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia portraying the title character...
, Melissa Leo
Melissa Leo
Melissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
, Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton
Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...
and Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
. The film, which received a limited release in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on April 20, 2007, focuses on the issue of teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
. Stephanie Daley was developed at the Sundance Writers' and Filmmakers' Lab, and premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival
2006 Sundance Film Festival
The 2006 Sundance Film Festival was held from 19 January to 29 January 2006. It was held in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah; Ogden, Utah; and the Sundance Resort. It was the 22nd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival, and the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the...
, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The film also earned Tamblyn a nomination for best supporting female at the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
and the Leopard prize for best actress at the 2006 Locarno
Locarno International Film Festival
The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
film festival.
Plot Summary
Sixteen-year-old Stephanie Daley collapses in a pool of blood while on a school skiingSkiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
trip. A doctor discovers that in the blood is afterbirth
Placenta
The placenta is an organ that connects the developing fetus to the uterine wall to allow nutrient uptake, waste elimination, and gas exchange via the mother's blood supply. "True" placentas are a defining characteristic of eutherian or "placental" mammals, but are also found in some snakes and...
. Soon afterward, the body of a newborn baby girl is found in a toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
, its mouth blocked with toilet paper. Despite Stephanie's insistence that her child was stillborn
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
and that she had no idea that she was pregnant
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
, she is arrested for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of the child and becomes known as the Ski-Mom.
Awaiting trial, Stephanie is interviewed by a psychologist
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, Lydie Crane, who is also about 30 weeks pregnant with a son. She suspects her husband is having an affair after finding an earring that doesn't belong to her in their home; their marriage has been on the rocks since she gave birth to a stillborn child three months before she conceived
Conceived
"Conceived" is the first single released by Beth Orton from her album Comfort of Strangers. It was released as a download single via iTunes on 29 November 2005, and then on CD and vinyl on 30 January 2006. It peaked at #44 in the UK official singles chart. It also peaked at #6 on the US's Triple A...
the child she is now pregnant with. As Stephanie discusses her sexual history and her relationship with her parents and her child, Lydie is forced to face her hitherto buried emotions about her own child.
Through her interviews with Lydie, Stephanie talks about the father of her baby, Cory, a boy she met at party and then slept with and never saw again because he enlisted in the Marines. When Lydie asks Stephanie if she knew she was pregnant; Stephanie avoids the questions and claims she was being "punished" by God because she was "weak", and that the pregnancy was a "test". Visibly annoyed at this, Lydie reveals to Stephanie that she had a baby girl a year before who had been stillborn, and asks Stephanie what she thinks Lydie was being punished for. Stephanie replies "you tell me."
The truth is told through flashbacks, when Stephanie is on the ski trip at her school, (none of her friends know of her pregnancy; and she doesn't reveal it to anyone) she begins to go into labour and makes it to the bathroom; where she quietly but painfully delivers the child on her own, and it is revealed through Lydie's explanation that the baby fell into the leg of Stephanie's ski pants. Stephanie says she wrapped the baby in toilet paper and left it there; but still maintains she was dead.
Meanwhile, Lydie confronts her husband about the affair; and he claims he has not slept with anyone; but has indeed thought about it. He also blames the problems in their marriage on Lydie having not properly grieved for their stillborn daughter (she confides in a friend that when their stillborn daughter was cremated, in a fit of anger during an argument with her husband on the drive home, Lydie opened the window and just tossed the ashes out) and that she does not truly want the baby she is carrying. Lydie screams in his face that she does want the child.
Soon before her trial, Stephanie is getting a glass of water and a car drives by her house with drunk young men in it who scream out "be the mother of my baby!" and drive off laughing, Stephanie having gained notoriety as being the Ski-Mom. This event makes Stephanie break the glass in her hand and cut her palm; severely upsetting her mother.
Before the trial begins, Stephanie returns to Lydie and says she is going to accept a plea bargain. Lydie states that she thinks this is a good idea and reaches out to shake Stephanie's hand when she notices the cut and asks what happened. Stephanie then tearfully admits the truth to Lydie, that her baby girl was alive when she delivered her, but was so small, and "her breathing was all wrong", and so in her mind she told her child to die; and she did. And Stephanie believes she did kill her baby with her mind. Lydie hugs Stephanie, and thanks her.
The DVD release contains a "Making of" featurette; the writer-director expresses her satisfaction with the open-ended portrayal and ending, so that the viewers can bring their own interpretation to the material, and be left pondering afterwards. The official website tagline is "The Truth is what we believe."http://www.stephaniedaley-themovie.com/
Cast
- Tilda SwintonTilda SwintonKatherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She has appeared in a number of films including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Burn After Reading, The Beach, We Need to Talk About Kevin and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her...
as Lydia Crane - Amber TamblynAmber TamblynAmber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and poet. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera General Hospital as Emily Quartermaine, followed by a starring role on the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia portraying the title character...
as Stephanie Daley - Timothy HuttonTimothy HuttonTimothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
as Paul Crane - Melissa LeoMelissa LeoMelissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
as Miri Daley - Jim GaffiganJim GaffiganJames Christopher "Jim" Gaffigan is an American stand-up comedian and actor.-Early life:Gaffigan was born in Chesterton, Indiana and attended La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana. He is the youngest of six children and often jokes about growing up in a large family. He attended one year at...
as Joe Daley - Neal HuffNeal HuffNeal Huff is an American actor. He received his MFA from the Graduate Acting Program at New York University. He has appeared on Broadway in revivals of The Tempest and The Lion in Winter and the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out...
as Mr. Thomas - Constance WuConstance WuConstance Wu is an American actress. She has played supporting roles in the films Stephanie Daley, Year of the Fish, and The Architect. In television, she appeared on Law and Order: SVU and currently plays the role of "Laudine Lee" on the ABC show One Life to Live. Her films have been shown at...
as Jenn - Vincent PiazzaVincent PiazzaVincent Piazza is an American film, television and stage actor best known for his roles in the television series Boardwalk Empire and the 2007 film Rocket Science.- Biography :...
as Jeff