SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
Unemployed roughneck Bill Baker (Academy Award® winner Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin). Imprisoned for a murder she claims she did not commit. Allison seizes on a new tip that could exonerate her and presses Bill to engage her legal team.
But Bill who is eager to prove his worth and regain his daughters trust, takes matters into his own hands. He is quickly stymied by language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system until he meets French actress Virginie (Camille Cottin), mother to eight-year-old Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Together, these unlikely allies embark on a journey of discovery, truth, love and liberation.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Stillwater Plot Summary and Synopsis
An oil worker in Stillwater, Oklahoma, named Bill Baker (Matt Damon) travels to Marseille, to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin).
Allison has been serving a prison sentence for the past 4 years, and Bill and before that, Allison’s maternal grandmother Sharon (Deanna Dunagan) has been traveling to Marseille to visit Allison regularly since her arrest.
While attending university in Marseille, Allison was convicted for killing her roommate and unfaithful lover Lina.
During Bill’s meeting with Allison, she gives him a note written in French (which Bill cannot read) for her defense lawyer Leparq (Ann Le Ny).
Leparq reads the note and says that Allison wrote that there is hearsay that Allison thinks would exonerate her. However, Leparq declines to investigate or attempt to re-open the case.
Bill asks a local resident named Virginie (Camille Cottin) to translate the letter.
He had previously met Virginie at his hotel after she thanked him for helping her eight-year-old daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud) when she was locked out of their hotel room that the two were staying in while waiting for an apartment.
Virginie explains that the note says Patrick (William Nadylam) – a professor at the university – had recently told Allison of secondhand information about a man who claims to be Lina’s killer. The letter also says that neither Bill nor Sharon can help her.
Not wanting to crush her hopes, Bill lies to Allison and says the Leparq has agreed to investigate. Instead, he resolves to exonerate her himself.
Bill visits Patrick, who gives him the phone number of someone who claims to know Lina’s killer. Virginie arranges for Bill and Virginie to meet the alleged killer’s acquaintance. The acquaintance names the killer Akim (Idir Azougli) but because of Akim’s associations with gang members refuses more help.
Combing through social media, Virginie and her friend print a list of photos of people known to be in the social circles of Allison and Lina before Lina’s death.
Bill brings the photos to Allison who points out Akim. Bill then uses the photo to successfully track down Akim but is beaten by Akim’s associates while Akim escapes. The next time he meets Allison, in his bruised condition the truth comes out that he lied about Leparq agreeing to help.
He tells her that he found Akim but didn’t tell the police. Enraged that Bill squandered her one chance for exoneration, Allison tells Bill to never come back to the prison.
Bill remains in Marseille and moves into the apartment of Virginie and Maya.
One night Bill takes Maya to a professional soccer game in town. Towards the end of the game, Bill sees Akim in a neighboring section of seats. Bill tracks Akim as he is leaving the stadium and follows him in his truck.
While Maya is sleeping in the truck, Bill confronts and subdues Akim, loading him into the truck’s rear camper shell. Bill locks Akim in the basement of the apartment building where Virginie, Maya, and Bill live.
Bill pays a private investigator to have a lock of Akim’s hair tested against the crime scene’s DNA evidence, informing that investigator that he is holding Akim.
While bringing food and water to Akim, Akim tells Bill that Allison hired him to kill Lina, and she paid him with a gold necklace that had the word Stillwater on it. Bill is shaken by this accusation, and it is clear he doesn’t discount it.
The private investigator suspects Bill is keeping Akim in the basement of the apartment building. He poses as a building inspector employed by the government and asks Virginie if she has noticed any smells or noises from the basement. Virginie says no, but her suspicions are also raised.
While walking Maya back from school to their apartment building, the police (apparently tipped off by the private investigator) detain Bill and escort Maya to her apartment.
After a fruitless search of the basement, it is apparent that Virginie released Akim. The police question Maya and Virginie who deny that anything abnormal has been going on.
After the police leave, Virginie learns how Akim came to be locked in the basement. She angrily demands Bill move out for putting Maya at risk during Akim’s abduction.
While he is living in the hotel again, Leparq calls Bill to say that a DNA test has exonerated Allison. Even though the presumed killer is at large, the evidence is enough to acquit Allison and release her. It is apparent that the private investigator caused the authorities to re-open the case. Bill’s numb reaction perplexes Leparq.
Allison and Bill return to Oklahoma to a hero’s welcome.
Stillwater Ending
One morning Allison visits Bill, and Bill asks Allison what happened to the Stillwater necklace he gave Allison as a parting gift before she departed to attend school 4 years ago.
Allison breaks down, admits she hired Akim and claims she didn’t intend for Lina to die. While it is clear Bill is disturbed by the confirmation, he makes it clear that he will continue to protect his daughter by not revealing the truth.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Title: Stillwater
US Release Date: July 30, 2021
Starring: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin
Directed by: Tom McCarthy
Written by: Tom McCarthy
Synopsis: 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.
Video: https://cooncel.com/video-stillwater-trailer-1/