premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded with the Waldo Salt Screenwriting prize. It did not get a theatrical release in North America until April 20, 2007, due to the film’s controversial subject matter. Critical reception On Rotten Tomatoes, Stephanie Daley has an approval rating of 90% based on 51 reviews. The site’s critics consensus reads, "The premise has all the trappings of melodrama, but the excellent performances give the characters complexity and empathy." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Critics lauded the film for its story and attention to detail, particularly Brougher's non-sensationalized approach to a sensitive subject. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Shot in a pinpoint, suggestive handheld style, this lacerating drama...shines a piercing light onto some of the hidden terrors of women, especially in an era when abstinence can shade into ignorance. The scary culminating flashback, in which Stephanie gives birth — in a public restroom, on a high school ski trip — is a marvel of authentic disturbance." Walter Addiego of the San Francisco Chronicle said, "While making a point of Stephanie's Christian beliefs, Brougher is clearly not interested in creating a polemic, either pro-choice or anti-abortion. This is drama, not tabloid or talk-radio stuff." Mary F. Pols of the East Bay Times lauded Brougher's decision to "[root] her story in the real world, the world of girls who are afraid to ask questions, afraid to go to their mothers, afraid to take a close look at their own bodies." Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Without standing on a soapbox Stephanie Daley suggests a tragic gender gap between men who judge and women who feel." In 2021, Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "Brougher films with a sharp-eyed, vulnerable, yet combative sense of symbolism that nonetheless sticks close to the drama's physical specifics." The performances of Tamblyn and Swinton were uniformly praised, with Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times writing, "To see Tamblyn's work here, to see her character almost simultaneously embody pain, terror, anguish, embarrassment, regret and just about any emotion you can think of, is to watch the kind of acting the medium exists to provide." Of Swinton, Roger Ebert wrote "few actors can be more quiet, empathetically tactful." While some critics felt Lydie’s plot line was unnecessary, with Richard