Stillwater (film)

Stillwater, Oklahoma roughneck Bill Baker (Damon) travels to Marseille, Southern France to visit his daughter Allison, who is five years into serving a nine-year prison sentence. While attending university in Marseille, Allison was convicted of killing her roommate and unfaithful lover, Lina.[5][6]

During Bill's first meeting with Allison, she asks him to pass a letter to her defense lawyer, Leparq. Bill finds Leparq, who tells him that the letter says that Allison heard from her former professor about a man who claimed to be Lina's killer. Leparq says that no judge will reopen the case because the new information is just hearsay. Bill lies to Allison, telling her that Leparq will petition the judge to reopen the case.

Bill meets a woman named Virginie and her daughter Maya at his hotel. He asks Virginie to translate the letter, where he learns not only about his daughter's desperation at the sentence, but also about how little faith she has in her father's ability to help with the situation. Bill visits the professor mentioned in the letter, who gives him the phone number of someone who claims to know Lina's killer. Bill and Virginie meet with the girl, who names the killer as Akim.

Combing through social media, Virginie and her girlfriend, Nedjma, print photos of people in the social circles of Allison and Lina. Bill brings the photos to Allison, who identifies Akim. Bill then uses the photo to track down Akim at a dilapidated condominium, but Bill is beaten by Akim's friends after drawing too much attention, while Akim escapes. The next time that he meets Allison, Bill confesses that he lied about Leparq agreeing to help and that he found Akim but didn't tell the police. Enraged that Bill squandered her one chance for exoneration, Allison tells him to never return to the prison.

Four months later, Bill has remained in Marseille, renting a room in Virginie's apartment and working on a construction crew. During Allison's one free day out of prison that year, Bill thinks that he reconnects with her, but that evening as she goes back to prison she attempts suicide by trying to hang herself. Bill is devastated but he continues to visit her and as their regular visits continue he reconnects with her. Bill and Virginie also establish a closer relationship and Bill finally thinks his life is back on track. One night at an Olympique de Marseille game, which Bill attends with Maya, he spots Akim and follows him to his truck after the match has finished. Bill approaches Akim and knocks him out and locks him in the basement of their apartment building where Virginie, Maya and Bill live. Bill implores Maya to keep the secret, and she agrees.

Bill pays a private investigator to have a lock of Akim's hair tested against the crime scene's DNA evidence. Akim tells Bill that Allison had hired him to kill Lina and that she paid him with a gold necklace bearing the word "Stillwater". Bill begins to doubt Allison's innocence. The private investigator suspects that Bill is keeping Akim in the basement, so he poses as a building inspector and asks Virginie if she has noticed any smells or noises from the basement, which she denies, but her suspicions are aroused. Police officers find and detain Bill, but after a fruitless search of the basement, the police question Maya, who lies about not having seen the hostage. After the police leave, Virginie demands that Bill move out for having put Maya at risk during Akim's abduction. Virginie never tells Bill if she was involved with Akim leaving the basement or where Akim is now. Afterward, Bill hugs a crying Maya goodbye, and moves back into the hotel.

Leparq meets with Bill to tell him that new proof will allow the case to be reopened, with a DNA test exonerating Allison, but is confused by Bill's stoic reaction.

After Allison and Bill return to Oklahoma to a hero's welcome, Bill asks Allison about the Stillwater necklace that he gave her when she had departed for Marseille. Allison breaks down and admits she hired Akim to evict Lina from their house after they had broken up, but claims that she did not intend for Lina to be killed, as Akim misunderstood her intentions to "put her out" of the apartment. The next morning as they sit on the porch, Allison says everything looks the same in Stillwater while Bill admits everything looks different to him, almost to the point of him not recognizing it anymore.

• Matt Damon as Bill Baker, an unemployed roughneck whose daughter ends up wrongly imprisoned for murder in France. Bill believes in his daughter's innocence so strongly that he takes up investigating her case when no one else will.
• Abigail Breslin as Allison Baker, Bill's daughter. Convicted of murdering her roommate and lover Lina, she still maintains her innocence even after five years of imprisonment. She inadvertently sets her father out to investigate her case by asking him to pass a letter to her lawyer.
• Camille Cottin as Virginie, a single mother living in France who decides to help Bill investigate his daughter's case. She rents Bill a room and translates for him as he pursues leads.
• Lilou Siauvaud as Maya, Virginie's daughter. Bill helps Virginie care for Maya and acts as a father figure to her.
• Deanna Dunagan as Sharon, Bill's mother-in-law and Allison's grandmother. She helps support Bill and Allison financially and coordinates with Allison on Bill's visits to France.
• Idir Azougli as Akim, the mystery man that Bill believes is the real killer.
• Anne Le Ny as Leparq, Allison's lawyer.
• Moussa Maaskri as Dirosa, a retired police officer who offers to help Bill for money.
• William Nadylam as Patrick, a university professor whom Bill tracks down for information on the real killer's identity.

Tom McCarthy, director of Stillwater, promoting the film at the Cannes Film Festival 2019

It was announced in July 2019 that Tom McCarthy would write and direct the film, with Matt Damon set to star. Abigail Breslin was added to the cast later in the month, with filming beginning in August 2019.[7][8][9] Camille Cottin was added to the cast in September.[10] Mychael Danna composed the film's score.[11] It was filmed on location in Oklahoma and Marseilles.[5][6]

Allison is in Marseilles, which is the hometown of Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo. Dantès was convicted of a crime he did not commit and sent to the Marseille prison island Château d'If, which is visible in the background of several scenes in which Allison and Bill are swimming.

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 8, 2021.[12] It was scheduled to be released in the U.S. on November 6, 2020,[10][13] but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic[14] until July 30, 2021.[15]

• Stillwater at IMDb
• Official screenplay