A father travels from Oklahoma to France to help his estranged daughter, who is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit.
Matt Damon commands the screen in “Stillwater” as Bill Baker, a laid-off roughneck, failed father, and all-around handyman living in Oklahoma. In between working odd jobs such as clearing the aftermath of a tornado, Bill interviews for positions at oil companies where the pay is better.
In short order, after stopping in to see his mother-in-law Sharon (Deanna Dunagan), Bill inexplicably gets on a plane and flies to France – a trip he has made several times before. He finds his way to a prison in Marseille, where his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) unexpectedly emerges from behind locked doors, five years into a prison sentence for murder.
With other visits to the penitentiary planned for the week, Bill lodges at a budget hotel in Marseille. There, after checking in, he observes Maya (Lilou Siauvaud) kicking a soccer ball in the hallway outside his room. Later, when she is locked out of her own room, Bill takes her down to the front desk to get a replacement key. Maya’s grateful mother Virginie (Camille Cottin) thanks Bill and agrees to translate a letter Allison has written to her lawyer that hints at her innocence. Because Allison’s relationship with her father is filled with doubt and distrust emanating from his troubled past, and his penchant for screwing up, she asks the lawyer in her letter not to share the contents with Bill.
Indeed, Bill’s family life has been a tortured one. He has overcome alcoholism and time in prison. His wife committed suicide for reasons not altogether clear. And then one day, his daughter abruptly left school at Oklahoma State for a university in Marseille simply because it was far away from home – and winds up incarcerated for a nine-year term.
Like many Americans left behind in the wake of economic downturns, Bill clings nostalgically to signposts from an earlier era. He insists on praying devoutly before every meal, oblivious to the reaction of others. Similarly, he refuses to part with a generations-old Apple iPod emitting vintage country music and earning him mild criticism for such atavism. Bill is a symbol of forgotten America.
Meanwhile, Virginie works as a stage actress in a local theater, aspiring to land a role on a local television show. She too has had a bad run of relationships. Maya’s absentee father runs a nightclub on the beach in Corsica – presumably for the best of all concerned. After Bill decides to stay on in Marseille to try and get Allison acquitted, he rents a room from Virginie and starts to pick up Maya after school to help out.
Cultural distinctions between Europe and America remain on full display throughout. U.S. audiences may find it interesting the way French citizens compare Marseille with Paris – sort of akin to the difference between New York and Texas. When Virginie tells Bill he sounds just like an American, he replies, “That’s good because I am.”
Fine cinematography vividly portrays both the heartland of America – highlighting lovely sunsets silhouetted with working pump jacks – as well as the South of France, nestled as it is along the deep blue Mediterranean Sea. The film boasts superb casting, with many French-speaking actors filling out the ranks and adding to the authentic feel of the location shots. Even at nearly two-and-a-half hours with a relatively straightforward plot, the narrative always moves briskly due in no small measure to the fine acting that brings the characters to life. The sure-footed direction by Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy doesn’t hurt either.
Taking on the role of Bill by Matt Damon is an interesting choice since at this juncture in his career he can take his pick of movie projects. His personal views and politics, for example, are almost certainly polar opposite to those of the pious, gun-toting Bubba Bill. In fact, Damon’s first-rate performance is literally the only reason that Bill appears sympathetic at all.
While “Stillwater” borrows elements from the real-life Amanda Knox case in Italy, this film is about much more than a wrongfully convicted American girl trying to overturn the judgment of the court in a foreign land. Rather, it’s a story about a father seeking private redemption while at the same time plodding his way through a complicated world he struggles daily to understand.
In Theaters Friday, July 30th
