Cillian Murphy has once again delivered a powerful and emotional performance in his new Netflix movie Steve. The film dives deep into heavy themes like teenage anger, mental health, and trauma, all set in a British reform school during the 1990s. It explores how pain, neglect, and broken systems affect both the students and the adults trying to help them. Cillian plays the lead role of Steve, a kind but troubled headteacher, while Jay Lycurgo plays Shy, a deeply wounded student who becomes the heart of the story alongside him.
The movie is based on Max Porter’s novella Shy and was co-produced by Cillian himself. Steve runs a reform school for troubled boys and tries to give them a safe space to heal. But he’s not doing well either. He battles addiction, guilt, and emotional exhaustion. Years earlier, he was involved in a car accident that left him haunted by guilt. To cope, he numbs himself with alcohol and painkillers while trying to save others — especially his students.
Things only get harder when he learns the government plans to shut the school down in six months due to budget cuts. He hides this truth from the boys, but it eats away at him. On top of that, a TV crew arrives to shoot a documentary about the school, not to help but to profit from the boys’ pain. Steve feels trapped, torn between his responsibilities and his inner darkness. His bond with Shy becomes his only anchor.
Shy, on the other hand, is a young boy filled with anger and confusion. He lashes out violently, but deep down, he’s just broken and scared. Steve sees himself in Shy — the same pain, the same self-destruction, the same search for meaning. When Shy’s mother calls to say she’s cutting him off completely, he loses all hope. Feeling unwanted and alone, he decides to end his life. He fills his school bag with stones and walks into a lake, ready to drown himself.
But at that moment, memories of Steve stop him. The care, the small moments of kindness, the feeling of being seen — they pull him back. Meanwhile, Steve, after reading Shy’s farewell note, runs to find him but injures himself and falls before he can reach him. Still, his emotional presence becomes Shy’s saving grace.
In the end, Steve leaves viewers with a sense of hope. Both characters survive, not because everything suddenly becomes perfect, but because they rediscover connection and meaning in each other. Steve’s compassion saves Shy, and Shy’s decision to live saves Steve in return. The movie ends as a quiet but moving reminder that sometimes, the smallest act of care can pull someone back from the edge.