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Starring Cillian Murphy, Steve is directed by Tim Mielants and is based on the novella Shy by Max Porter. Released on September 19, 2025, the film follows Steve (Murphy), the headteacher, over a day, who is desperately fighting to prevent the school from being closed due to budget cuts while secretly battling chronic pain, prescription opioid addiction, and guilt from a past accident.
The day becomes further challenging with a cynical documentary crew and the mental health spiral of one of his most troubled students, Shy (Jay Lycurgo), who has been rejected by his family. The main cast features Cillian Murphy as Steve, Jay Lycurgo as Shy, Tracey Ullman as Deputy Head Amanda, Simbi Ajikawo as teacher Shola, and Emily Watson as the school therapist.
During the film's conclusion, Shy, in a state of self-destruction, leaves the school grounds with a backpack full of rocks, intending to end his life in a pond. Steve, drugged and disoriented, wakes to find Shy gone and frantically searches for him. Although Steve races to the pond, Shy ultimately saves himself, smashing a school window with the rocks in a raw act of survival, and choosing life.
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Steve ending: How Shy finds life and Steve faces his own darkness
The film is set in a mid-1990s English reform school, Stanton Wood and centers on Steve, the school’s devoted but trouled headteacher, who is fighting a war on two fronts: saving his institution from being shut down due to institutional neglect, and struggling with his own issues of chronic pain, prescription opioid addiction, and guilt over a past incident involving a car accident.
This internal and external pressure culminates over a single day, mirroring the desperation of his troubled student, Shy. Things take a dramatic turn when Steve's last hope falls apart when the news of the school's inevitable closure, scheduled to occur within six months, is confirmed. This sense of institutional failure leads directly to the film's climax, which is triggered by Shy’s agony after rejection by his mother.
In an act of self-destruction, Shy leaves the school grounds and makes his way to a pond while carrying a rock-weighted rucksack with the intention of taking his own life. Steve, impaired by pills and alcohol, awakens and chases into the night. On the other hand, Shy does not enter the pond; he instead uses the rocks to smash a window, violently breaking his way back into the school.
During the climax, the closure of Stanton Wood is confirmed. In an act of kindness, Steve records a tape for his colleague, Shola, a loving roll call where he lists the unique strengths and potential of each boy, a final, beautiful testament to his belief in their worth before the system discards them. After kissing his wife and daughters goodbye, he is shown retreating not to bed, but to the attic.
The film's ending leaves Steve's fate uncertain. While Shy chooses life by turning his self-destruction outward, Steve retreats inward, emphasizing the overwhelming, price paid by those who care deeply within a system designed to fail.
Steve is now streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned for more updates.
