Stillwater Review

Stillwater is the latest film by Spotlight director Tom McCarthy. His Marseille set film is part drama, part thriller as an American man tries to help prove his daughter’s innocence.

Allison Baker (Abigail Breslin) is a young American woman who has spent five years in prison in Marseille for murder. She has another four years to serve. Her father, Bill (Matt Damon) comes from the States to visit. He finds out that a young man called Akim might actually be responsible for the murder. Bill must navigate Marseille’s underworld with his only ally being an actress/single mum, Virginie (Camille Cottin).

Stillwater has been compared to the murder of Meredith Kercher. The IMDB trivia page has stated that the film was loosely based on the Amanda Knox story. The keyword is ‘loosely.’ Stillwater has the same basic premise: an American student who was studying abroad has been imprisoned for murder. That’s as far as the similarities go.

The Amanda Knox story was one of trial by media, tabloidization, and how both sides used the media and nationalism as weapons. Stillwater has none of this. The film does hint at events in the past but the murder was five years ago, so it wasn’t in the public consciousness. Stillwater state the Bakers were poor whilst Amanda Knox’s family were middle class.

The focus of Stillwater was on Bill, the father. He was going around a strange city where he didn’t speak the language. Bill had to do the investigating himself because he couldn’t afford a private detective. It was a fish out of water story. Bill lacked the skilled set to be a detective and his desperation led him to make stupid decisions like going around a gang-dominated estate in the middle of the night.

Stillwater does take a surprising turn because the film becomes a drama. Bill moves in with Virginie and her daughter, Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Bill acts as a surrogate father to Maya: he picks her up from school, cooks dinner, and acts as a babysitter whilst Maya helps Bill. Maya acts as a possible route to redemption for Bill. By Bill’s own admission he was a bad father to Allison. He was away a lot and Allison was raised by her grandmother.

Bill was so close to the French family that he did things he wouldn’t have done in America, like go to the theatre and a soccer match. Allison seems conflicted when she sees this makeshift family.

One of the best features of this film was the casting. It was pitch-perfect. Damon and Breslin are established actors to English-speaking audiences and Damon was playing a different role to what we’re used to. Damon was a blue-collar worker from middle America. He was a salt-of-the-Earth type of guy.

Bill could have been an ugly American stereotype. On the surface, he did seem like a stereotype because he had a bald eagle tattoo enjoyed College Football, prays a lot, and states he has guns at home. Yet the filmmakers humanised him with his relationships and his mission. One of the big trailer moments was Bill being told he was acting really American. There was a reason behind it because he was just blinded by helping his daughter. Despite Bill being religious, he accepts his daughter as being gay. The filmmakers dodged a bullet involving Bill’s political alignment by Bill saying he can’t vote because he has a criminal record.

Cottin is a well-known actress in France and she worked well with Damon. Her character stood in contrast to Bill because she was an actress who worked with a bohemian crowd and had an openly liberal mindset. Yet Virginie was one of the few people in France to help Bill and Bill returns the favour. Siauvaud as Maya gave an excellent performance as she becomes close to Bill.

As well as the personal story, Stillwater also explored wider themes. Both Stillwater and Marseilles have economic issues. At the start of the film Stillwater had been devastated by tornadoes and homes were getting demolished. Marseilles is a port city and it has a lot of social deprivation. The city was surrounded by France’s notorious suburban estates where gangs and poverty were endemic. This made Bill’s mission even tougher because people refused to talk out of fear of reprisals.

Stillwater was a surprising film because it seems like it was going to be a crime thriller but turned out to be a wonderful character piece.