Spoilers for Steve are ahead! Read with caution, and watch the movie with a Netflix subscription.
In Steve, which is Netflix’s latest 2025 release, Cillian Murphy plays the titular teacher who uses a recorder constantly to keep track of his thoughts and emotions. It’s an effective device, and it gives us a look into this character’s inner monologue. So, when I interviewed the actor who plays him, I asked why he thinks Steve uses his recorder so much, and I also specifically posed a question about the final words he says into it, which led to a pretty personal answer.
book-to-screen adaptation of Max Porter’s book Shy, we see Murphy’s Steve talk into his recorder often. He uses it to give updates to Shola, and he also uses it to talk out what’s been going on. It’s seemingly a way for him to process this incredibly difficult job he has. When I asked Murphy about it, he said that the device did those two things for him, explaining:
2025 movie schedule entry, Steve says that he wants his students and daughters to realize how much there is to life, that it’s more than just the hard stuff. He explains how much potential the unknown has, and his final words are “It’s enough, isn’t it?” So, to hear Murphy reflect on that line in relation to the start of his career was touching.
Now, if you’d like to go back and reflect on this final line, as well as the use of the recorder in Steve, you can stream Cillian Murphy’s great movie on Netflix.