Crime and Punishment in Suburbia (2000)

A teenager takes revenge against her abusive step-father. This film takes a peep behind the façade of everyday suburban life and finds something rotten at the core. Starring Monica Keena & Michael Ironside this looks like a brilliant film.

Very loosely based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" this is a contemporary fable.

Roseanne Skolnik (Monica Keena) is outwardly a perfect and highly popular teenager at high-school.

She lives at home with her mother, Maggie Skolnik (Ellen Barkin) and her stepfather Fred (Michael Ironside). Her school life is more than ideal with her popularity and popular jock boyfriend making her a much reverred member of the student community.

However, this popular and happy image is just a mask, within she is hiding the abuse that she suffers at the hands of her stepfather when her mother walks out on her after committing adultery.

When the stepfather, a self-loathing alcoholic, rapes her, Rosanne plots to have him removed from her life completely.

The events that follow are a mix of dark humour and an exploration of modern morality as Roseanne faces not only a fellow suburbanite who knows, but her own conscience as well.

Rather like its close contemporary American Beauty, this takes a peek behind the façade of everyday suburban life, and finds something rotten at the core.