Secret Cutting
| Secret Cutting | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Norma Bailey |
| Starring |
Sean Young Kimberlee Peterson Robert Wisden Rhea Perlman |
|
Release date
|
|
| Country |
Canada United States |
| Language | English |
Secret Cutting (also known as Painful Secrets) is a 2000 made-for-TV movie directed by Norma Bailey, starring Kimberlee Peterson and Rhea Perlman, about a self-harming teenager, focusing on and her relation with family, friend and acquaintances. The story of the television film is based on the novel The Luckiest Girl in the World, which was written by Steven Levenkron. The film aired on the USA Network.
Shy and withdrawn Dawn Cottrell (Kimberlee Peterson) feels as if she is unable to assert any control over her life. She is a teenager who attempts to please the world but feels like she is unable to please anyone. Her mother, Joyce (Sean Young), is vindictive and seems to take out her anger on the rest of the family. As a result, Dawn feels like a failure and unable to please her parents. Unlike most people, who are able to express extreme emotions outwardly through words or through tears, the only way Dawn knows about for channeling her pain is through self-injury. This physical pain secures relief for Dawn relief from the emotional pain that she otherwise would be unable to release.
Her life consists of a continuous series of disappointments, as Dawn does not seem to have any real friends at school. Furthermore, her family is dysfunctional in the sense that her father, Russell (Robert Wisden) is unable to exhibit his emotions and Dawn's brother often hurls emotional abuse at his sister. Dawn finds solace in being able to control at least one thing in her life - her secret cutting.
When Dawn is asked by the "popular" crowd to design their float for the upcoming school carnival, she is initially pleased. However, the popular girls still victimize Dawn by calling her names and acting maliciously towards her. Her hopes for acceptance are shattered when she overhears the girls snickering and making fun of her in the girls' bathroom. Unable to deal with the pain, Dawn runs to a private corner and begins to cut herself, the only way she knows about to cope with what transpired.
Dawn feels that she is unable to articulate the troubles she experience at school to her parents. In fact, she is quite successful in hiding both the truth as well as her pain from her family. When Dawn tries to connect with them individually, Russell seems unable to handle any type of intimacy with his daughter and puts up an air of passivity. Joyce, on the other hand, is incapable of discussing anything without relating it back to herself, thus constantly taking the focus away from Dawn, where it should be. Tragically, Dawn attempts to find salvation from these two shaky worlds in the arms of a 19-year-old musician who, in reality, has little interest in finding out about her as a person, and only cares about how she can satisfy him physically.
...
Wikipedia