Stillwater

Directed by Tom McCarthy

★★★½

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(L to R) Camille Cottin as "Virginie", Matt Damon as "Bill" and Lilou Siauvaud as "Maya"

in director Tom McCarthy's STILLWATER, a Focus Features release.

Credit: Jessica Forde / Focus Features

Secrets run deep. The line from the poster rings true in Tom McCarthy’s latest, which is for the most part restrained compared to the Taken vibes the trailer gave off. While similar storylines occur, in the sense that a man goes looking for his daughter in Europe, this is a completely different film and thank God for that. 

Stillwater follows Matt Damon’s Bill, a quiet, hardworking roughneck from Oklahoma who commutes back and forth to France to visit his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), who is in prison after being accused of murdering her girlfriend. When there is a new lead that could possibly free her, Bill has to investigate for himself, when the lawyers decide not to pursue it. The film draws astonishing, hard to ignore, parallels to the Amanda Knox case.

While this sounds like a man who will do anything to save his daughter, it is, but with a giant asterisk. Bill and Allison have a very strained relationship, Bill being a former alcoholic and addict, and she does not trust him. So rather than hunting down a man and using a ‘particular set of skills,’ Bill is on a personal redemptive journey, not only to redeem himself in his daughter’s eyes, but in his own as well. 

Along the way, he meets a single mother (Camille Cottin) and her young daughter (Lilou Siauvaud) with whom he develops a sort of surrogate family. 

For the most part, Stillwater succeeds as a character study of a troubled man, especially when it sits in the quiet moments of its kind incredible performances. Damon, always a force of an actor, is truly incredible as Bill. He finds a lowkey, yet simmering energy in Bill that really communicates his turmoil. Additionally, besides looking identical to the type of roughneck he is encapsulating, Damon has created an entire walk, posture and mouth movement for his character, which is fascinating to watch. 

Additionally, Cottin brings an energetic empathy to the film, and honestly, may be the reason the film works as well as it does. She has a way of delivering her lines that makes every scene she is in flawless. Additionally, Siauvard is a force to be reckoned with as Cottin’s daughter. Her scenes feel earned and mature, which most adult actors can’t achieve in their first film.

Unfortunately there are a few bits of bad dialogue, and the last 20 minutes feels extremely rushed and jarring, considering the languid pace of what preceded it. Stillwater is an extremely well acted, good movie, but it could have been great.