[yasr_overall_rating]
Miss Stevens marks the directing debut of Julia Hart, who lucked out with getting American Horror Story star Lily Rabe to play her lead character. Rabe lifts the film single-handedly, even as the film whittles down to a story of a teacher learning from her students.
Rabe stars as Rachel Stevens, a 29-year-old single high school English teacher who is nearing an emotional breakdown. To add to her distress, the weekend-long field trip to a drama competition with three of her students is coming up. One of her struggling students, Billy (Interstellar’s Timothee Chalamet), is coming along, which makes things even more difficult. He pokes and prods into her private life, while Margot (Lili Reinhart) just wants to win so the school will bring back its arts budget. The last member of the group is Sam (Anthony Quintal), who just hopes to meet a guy and do well, of course.
What follows is more like a play. There are no other characters from these four, aside from Walter (Rob Huebel), a married teacher Rachel spends the night with. Their relationship adds one new element to throw Rachel off-balance.
The play atmosphere in Hart and Jordan Horowitz’s script fits the characters perfectly. They are all playing characters themselves, with something to hide. Acting is a way for these students to hide from their own struggles. Rachel was still doing somewhat a form of acting herself by teaching and trying to keep the students away from her private life. Staying together in a small space for so long often tears down the facade each character holds dear. Everyone learns from one another, but Rachel is the one who learns the most.
Rabe is a fine performer and the glue that holds it together. She’s realistic and funny when the script calls for it. Her chemistry with Timothee Chalamet is important to the film, and their scenes together highlight just how talented a young actor he is. Reinhart and Quintal (who has never made a movie before) don’t get as much screentime, but they don’t trip up either.
Miss Stevens still can’t avoid some of the usual tracks that coming-of-age movies go on, even if it takes place in a much more constrained time period. All three students learn how to be better people and more supportive towards each other. Rachel even comes “of age” herself, as she digs her way out of the darkness.
At times, Miss Stevens is way too dark and its swings towards humor are sometimes too far and jarring. While it shows that teachers can learn from their students, it’s not like we’ve never seen that before. That said, the performances hold up and Rabe found a great showcase for her talent.
Miss Stevens had its world premiere on March 12 at SXSW. It is still seeking distribution.