MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Many motion pictures over the years have shown fathers going to great lengths to protect their children. That paternal bond is a strong one that audiences can easily relate when a child who gets in trouble turns to their father to either rescue them or set them free. That’s basically the plot of the Taken films that Liam Neeson starred in and even Arnold Schwarzenegger did the same in 1985’s Commando. In Stillwater, however, Matt Damon goes against type, not portraying an action star, just a father trying to free his daughter from prison.
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Unemployed oil worker Bill Baker (Damon) travels from his home in Stillwater, Oklahoma to Marseilles, France to visit his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin). Allison is in the fifth year of a nine-year prison sentence after she was convicted of killing her roommate and lover, Lina. Allison has consistently maintained her innocence with Bill, and he wants to do whatever he can to prove her innocence.
Bill even goes so far as to find a place to stay in Marseilles despite not knowing any French. Befriending aspiring actress Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud), Bill tries to review the case with Allison’s defense lawyer, Mme. Leparq (Anna Le Ny) through a letter from Allison in French that says her former professor came into contact with someone who might know Lina’s real killer.
With the help of Virginie who can translate for him, Bill meets with the woman, who then names the killer as “Akim.” On his crusade to free Allison, Bill faces a clash of his very Oklahoman nature and the strikingly different people of Marseilles, often feeling helpless in the process. Despite getting closer to Virginie and Maya, Bill’s relationship with Allison has never been strong and this case tests their family even more.
It’s difficult to hear about the premise of Stillwater, see Matt Damon is starring, and not think that this will be a big budget action picture like the examples mentioned earlier. After entering the action genre and starring as the title character in four Jason Bourne films from 2002 to 2016, Damon has already proven himself more than capable of portraying a desperate man seeking revenge.
It is therefore a bit staggering, if not refreshing, to see his Bill Baker as gruff, slightly overweight, and completely useless in a fight. Bill is even beaten up by a gang of youths as he looks for Akim in this film. By adopting a thick Southern accent, perpetually hiding under a cap, and growing a goatee, Damon removes all imagery of Jason Bourne, Linus Caldwell from the Ocean’s series, or any of his previous roles.
Instead, we are presented with a man who describes himself as “a fuck-up,” someone who doesn’t really have a meaningful relationship with the daughter he is trying to set free and is very rough around the edges. Placing this oil-rig worker from Oklahoma in a place so foreign to him like Marseilles, France not only allows director Tom McCarthy to show the cultural divide but also adds to the helplessness that Bill feels in doing simple tasks like talking to people.
McCarthy, who directed the critically acclaimed investigative film Spotlight released in 2015, is no stranger to directing and writing dramas but offers something very different with Stillwater. Co-writing this with Marcus Hinchey, Thomas Bidegain, and Noé Debré, McCarthy could have easily characterized Bill as the stereotypical uncultured American who picks fights with people who don’t speak English. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this past July, Stillwater goes against the impressions the audience may have for the actors involved.
Although there are parts of Bill that do show that, it is his flaws and faults that are presented more in this film. For her part, Breslin is all grown up and it’s been 15 years since she was nominated for an Oscar as the title character in Little Miss Sunshine. It can sometimes be unsettling seeing her as an adult, dealing with a murder conviction, smoking, and having a strained relationship with her father, but Breslin more than holds her own in the scenes with Damon and the other actors.
Bill’s nature of always managing to screw things up, whether with Allison or other people around him, is at the heart of Stillwater. Four months into his stay in France, Bill, and Virginie develop feelings for each other, and he also begins to care for Maya. Yet even as he takes her to a football game, seeing a familiar face makes him take a dangerous turn even if that meant putting Maya in danger.
Going to extremes to try and secure DNA evidence to free Allison, Damon as Bill becomes the father who will not take no for an answer even if it means breaking the law. Learning about what Allison really did, however, Bill doesn’t break down or shrivel up in a corner. Instead, he buries what he just learned for later because all he wants is his daughter’s freedom.
Near the film’s end, when Bill confronts Allison, it isn’t a screamfest where accusations are hurled and things are thrown. It is instead very calm, until Allison admits what she did and falls into her father’s arms. The heartbreaking nature of what the nature of their family might really be all along is something that Bill might have passed on to his little girl, and therein lies the ultimate tragedy of Stillwater.
