After her widowed father dies, deaf teenager Dot moves in with her godparents, Olivia and Paul Deer. The Deers' daughter, Nina, is openly hostile to Dot, but that does not prevent her from telling her secrets to her silent stepsister, including the fact that she wants to kill her lecherous father.
Acting
Cuthbert's unhinged Nina—mean girl as Greek tragedy.
Direction
Babbit turns PTA meetings into horror sequences.
Director
Jamie Babbit
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Marketed as a titillating teen thriller, the film was largely dismissed; feminist critics later reclaimed its brutal honesty about abuse cycles in 'perfect' families.
The piano as weapon and voice—Babbit insisted on Chopin's Nocturne in E-flat major for its 'polite violence.'
US
