Hailee Steinfeld Sells Grief and Laughter in The Edge of Seventeen

The Edge of Seventeen is a film about being sixteen and feeling like everything is falling apart. That is a universal position, and the movie leans into it with a sharp eye for small humiliations and large betrayals. It stars Hailee Steinfeld as Nadine, a high school student whose father has died suddenly, leaving her mother, played by Elizabeth Olsen, to navigate grief while holding the family together. The film was directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, who adapted the screenplay from a script by Dana Fox, and it arrives with a critical score of 7.7 out of 10.

The movie opens with Nadine’s father dying. This sets the stakes early: the family is fractured, and Nadine feels abandoned by the world at large. Her older brother, Darian, played by Hayden White, is brilliant but detached, and he is headed to Harvard. Nadine is smart too, but she does not fit the same mold. She is funny, angry, and desperate for connection. The death of her father forces her to reckon with what she wants from life, and the film spends its runtime exploring how she gets there.

Trailer, via STXfilms.

Nadine’s Grief and Anger

Steinfeld carries the film with a performance that is both fragile and ferocious. Nadine is a character who is constantly on the verge of tears and constantly cracking jokes. Steinfeld finds the balance between the two, and she makes Nadine feel real in a way that a lesser actress might flatten into pure tragedy. The grief is not abstract; it is a physical thing that makes her lash out at her mother, at her brother, and at anyone who tries to help.

Olsen plays Nadine’s mother with a quiet desperation. She is trying to hold the family together, but she is also struggling with her own loss. The tension between them is the engine of the film’s emotional core. Nadine pushes her away, and Olsen responds with a mix of frustration and love that feels earned. The scenes between them are the best in the movie, and they ground the chaos of Nadine’s teenage life in something that feels truly adult.

Hayden White brings a cool detachment to Darian that makes him feel like a real person rather than a plot device. He is headed to Harvard, and Nadine resents him for it. The resentment is not unfounded, but the film does not let Nadine off entirely. She is cruel to him, and the film shows the cost of that cruelty without excusing it. White’s performance is restrained, and it gives the film a center of gravity that Steinfeld’s more volatile energy needs.

The Romance With Martin

The romantic subplot involves Martin, played by Lucas Jade Zumann, a boy Nadine meets at school. He is kind, awkward, and a little bit strange. Their relationship is the film’s most hopeful thread, and it is handled with a light touch that avoids the saccharine trap. Nadine and Martin talk about poetry and movies, and Nadine finds in him a friend she did not know she needed. The romance is not the point of the film, but it gives Nadine a reason to look forward to something, and that is a relief after the constant stress of the rest of the story.

The School Bullies

Nadine is bullied at school, and the film does not shy away from showing the cruelty of adolescence. She is mocked for being unattractive and for being a failure. These moments are uncomfortable to watch, and they are meant to be. The film is honest about how mean teenagers can be, and it does not soften the blows. Nadine’s response is to fight back, and the film lets her do so in ways that feel earned. She is not a victim, but she is also not a hero. She is a teenager, and she acts like one.

The Music and Its Place

The soundtrack includes songs from various artists, and the music is used well to underscore the film’s emotional shifts. The songs are not just background noise; they are part of the narrative. They help define the characters and the world they inhabit. The film uses music to set tone, to signal transition, and to give Nadine a language for her feelings that she cannot find in words.

The Comedy

The film is not a tragedy, despite its subject matter. There are jokes throughout, and they land. Nadine is funny, and the film trusts her to be funny even when she is hurting. The humor comes from her observations about the world around her, and it gives the film a buoyancy that keeps it from sinking into despair. The comedy is a relief, and it makes the sadness feel earned.

The Ending

The film resolves itself in a way that feels satisfying without being tidy. Nadine does not get everything she wants, but she gets enough to move forward. The ending is hopeful without being false. It acknowledges that life goes on, and it suggests that Nadine will be okay, even if she is not happy yet. The final scene is quiet, and it leaves the door open for the future.

What Works Best

Here is what stands out most about the film:

1. Steinfeld’s performance as Nadine, which grounds the character in real pain and real humor.
2. The relationship between Nadine and her mother, which is the emotional heart of the story.
3. The romance with Martin, which gives Nadine a reason to believe in something.
4. The honesty about bullying, which makes the film feel true to the experience of adolescence.
5. The use of music, which enhances the emotional texture of the story.

The film is not perfect. Some of the supporting characters are sketched rather than fully realized, and the plot occasionally stretches thin in the middle. The resolution is optimistic, which some viewers might find unrealistic, though the film earns that optimism through its earlier struggles. Still, the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, and the film succeeds in doing what it sets out to do: telling a story about a young woman finding her footing in a broken world.

The Edge of Seventeen is a film about growing up, and it does not flinch from the pain of that process. It is also a film about love, in all its messy forms, and it does not flinch from that either. Nadine is a character who is worth caring about, and Steinfeld makes sure we do. The film is not a masterpiece, but it is a very good one, and it deserves the attention it has received.

coming-of-age · Elizabeth Olsen · Hailee Steinfeld · movie review · teen drama