Stephanie's Image

Different- and worth seeing
Stephanie's Image (2009) features Melissa Leo as a woman looking for the perfect image of herself as a way to mitigate the toll time and life are taking on her appearance and body. It's a 21st Century update of the Narcissus myth, spun through the lens of modern technology, in this case an obsession with cameras. Produced by Bay Area independent filmmakers JP Allen (screenplay) and Janis DeLucia Allen (producer and director), who both appear in prominent roles, this is a taut meditation on identity disguised as a murder mystery.

Stephanie's been murdered. By all appearances it looks like her boyfriend Richard (Chris Butler) killed her in some kind of jealous rage, though no one appears to understand why. DeLucia Allen plays a photographer who interviews people who knew the couple in attempt to understand what happened. She has her own motives for being involved in the project. Ostensibly these interviews will become a documentary about Stephanie. The participants think...

Would Have Worked Better as a Short
Stephanie's Image might have worked out as a short, but fails to deliver as a full-length film. For many of its faults, there's generally a redeeming quality, but it still falls short of entertaining.

What initially drew me to this film was Melissa Leo, who I've known about since her mid-90's work on Homicide: Life on the Street. I thought her work in Frozen River was absolutely terrific, so I had high expectations of Stephanie's Image. The downside was that she only has one real dialogue scene, and despite being a good monologue, it's not enough to carry the film. Which isn't to say that she doesn't get any screen time in this mockumentary, as there are a number of non-speaking scenes that are critical to the film. For a woman knocking on 50's door, Melissa Leo is a stone-cold fox, and was perfectly cast for this role.

Most of the cast, playing documentary interview subjects, don't have much experience in film. The few who did managed to put out quality...

loved the novel approach - film within a film
the use of a camera and interviews to tell the story brought a fresh angle and interest to the film. We hear about Stephanie and her husband and her work and life through interviews with her friends and family. I really liked that and kept me engaged. But in the end it isolated me from the two main protagonists and I became less involved in their lives and detached from their fates.

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