The agony of Stephanie Daley is in the details. Writer/director Hilary Brougher's sophomore effort (following 1997's The Sticky Fingers of Time) peels back the layers of small-town life, revealing the festering wounds that suppurate beneath even the most placid exteriors. Grounded by a pair of astonishing performances from executive producer Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn (a long ways from "Joan of Arcadia" here), it's a film that revels in the messy minutiae of life, capturing the way subtle events can rip apart a life.

Tamblyn, whose work as the titular character is nervy and exhilarating, expertly portrays a young woman negotiating with adulthood, still shackled to a life of religion and expectation but desperately wanting to experiment. The results of one night become life-changing as Stephanie finds herself embroiled in legal proceedings, being analyzed by forensic psychologist Lydie Crane (Swinton) as to whether or not she intentionally terminated her pregnancy. Simultaneously, Lydie's expecting a child of her own, following a grueling still-birth, and is dealing with her slowly disintegrating marriage.

Only one of these plot threads would be enough to power a feature-length motion picture, but Brougher drifts between them, alluding to the similarities in hidden secrets and societal norms exacerbated by each situation. Swinton and Tamblyn are mesmerizing throughout, particularly in their interview sessions, while Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo and stand-up comic Jim Gaffigan provide low-key support in their roles. Stephanie Daley is, at times, a wrenching experience (particularly in Tamblyn's climactic bathroom sequence) but it never feels exploitative or manipulative; instead, Brougher confidently lets the audience gauge the characters, never stooping to caricature anyone on screen. This sensitive portrayal of adolescence is all too rare in cinema, as most filmmakers are eager to diminish the teenage years in favor of cheap laughs or maudlin sentimentality. As Stephanie Daley shudders to a close, you'll be left shaken and hopeful, moved by one of 2006's more compelling works.

The Video:

Filmed in high-def video, the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer looks very sharp and almost uncomfortably vivid, placing viewers in a documentary-like visual context. Most of the nagging problems inherent in shooting in high-def plague Stephanie Daley -- slightly fuzzy edges, a bit of motion blur -- but it's not enough to consistently distract from the film.

I found myself cranking up the volume before the film was even five minutes old -- most of Stephanie Daley consists of hushed or low conversations, so much so that the sequences transpiring in the outdoors or at school are startlingly loud. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track renders most of the dialogue clearly, but I strained to hear more than one sequence; an optional Dolby 2.0 stereo track is here as are optional Spanish subtitles.

The supplements strike a balance between filmmaking secrets and social consciousness -- a pair of relaxed commentary tracks (one featuring Brougher, Tamblyn and cinematographer David Morrison, the other featuring producers Lynette Howell, Samara Koffler and Jen Roskind) cover plenty of ground, going into detail about the story, the filmmaking process and the characters. "The Making of Stephanie Daley," an 11 minute, 41 second featurette (presented in anamorphic widescreen) explores the behind-the-scenes process; five deleted scenes, presented in rough-looking anamorphic widescreen and playable separately or all together for an aggregate of four minutes, 25 seconds with a pair of PSAs for Planned Parenthood starring Tamblyn (presented in anamorphic widescreen) and trailers for Stephanie Daley, Show Business: The Road to Broadway and Aurora Borealis finishing off the disc.

This sensitive, occasionally raw portrayal of adolescence is all too rare in cinema, as most filmmakers are eager to diminish the teenage years in favor of cheap laughs or maudlin sentimentality. As Stephanie Daley shudders to a close, you'll be left shaken and hopeful, moved by one of 2006's more compelling works. Highly recommended.