Starring: Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin, Deanna Dunagan
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Thriller drama directed and co-written by Tom McCarthy. Stillwater (2021) centers on Bill Baker (Matt Damon), an oil-rig worker from Oklahoma who travels France to visit his estranged daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), who is in prison for a murder she claims she didn’t commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate her.
Best Quotes
Allison: How’s Gram?
Bill: She’s good. Still got the oxygen tank. Still got plenty of opinions.
Bill: Mind if we pray a bit?
Allison: Yeah, sure, dad.
Bill: Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together on this blessed day. And thank you for keeping a watchful eye on Allison.
Maya: Bell?
Bill: Bill.
Maya: Beal?
Bill: Closer.
Leparq: We have exhausted every possible legal action. This letter tells me that your daughter has not accepted her sentence. And she must. Do you understand?
Bill: Yes, ma’am.
Leparq: Mr. Baker, there’s a time for hope, and there’s a time for acceptance. The last thing you want to give your daughter is false hope. That could make her situation very dire. Do you understand?
Bill: Yes, ma’am.
Virginie: [translating Allison’s letter] “Patrick was approached by a student, who met a guy named Akim at a party. She was told he had stabbed a girl years ago and got away with it. It must be the same Akim who killed Lina.” You’re the father of the girl, the American student?
Bill: Yes, ma’am.
Virginie: [translating Allison’s letter for Bill] “I am innocent of this crime, and I have no one else to assist me. My grandmother can no longer make the trips to Marseille, and you know my father. I cannot trust him with this. He’s not capable. Please do not abandon me in this horrible place. I have lost five years of my life, and I still have four to go.”
Allison: [after Bill lies to her about Leparq opening the case again] You have no idea how many times I wrote, and then rewrote that letter.
Bill: Well, it worked.
Allison: Yeah.
Bill: Maybe God answered our prayers.
Allison: Thank you, dad. Thank you so much.
Bill: And they never could find this Akim. He’s the one who killed Lina. What do you think? You speak English, right? English?
Detective: Yes. I am.
Bill: F***. Give me back the letter.
Bill: Twelve thousand dollars?
Dirosa: Euros.
Bill: Thank you for your time.
Dirosa: Mr. Baker, do you believe your daughter is innocent?
Bill: I know she is.
Dirosa: Then maybe it’s not so much to see her go free.
Patrick: To be honest, I’ve always felt guilty about what happened. I should’ve warned Allison.
Bill: Warned her? About what?
Patrick: Well, I knew Allison and Lina were sleeping together, but I had no idea Lina had moved in with her. I try to not be cynical about these type of relationships. Poor girl from the ghetto, rich American student. But then I end up being guilty of naivete.
Bill: Allison grew up poor. She isn’t rich.
Patrick: Educated. There is a lot of resentments towards the cultural elite. But I’m sure you’re aware of that.
Bill: My daughter’s innocent.
Virginie: Is the lawyer not helping you?
Bill: I’m doing it myself for now.
Virginie: Oh. Wow.
Virginie: I have to confess, I went online, and I read about Allison’s case. It was a big story at the time. I mean, the press was ferocious, no? You say “ferocious”?
Bill: Yes, ma’am. We say that.
Virginie: [referring to Allison] She’s independent.
Bill: Yes, ma’am. Always been.
Virginie: Are you close?
Bill: Well, you read her letter.
Bill: Allison was raised by her grandmother mostly. I wasn’t around much.
Virginie: Where were you?
Bill: Working oil rigs, and being a f***up when I wasn’t.
Virginie: Bill, let them go, okay? She’s afraid.
Bill: Afraid of what? I’m talking to her.
Virginie: Yeah, but that’s not how it works here.
Bill: Well, you tell me how it works then, because nobody here’s doing s**t for me.
Virginie: I do s**t for you, okay? We should go. Now.
Virginie: Bill, what if there’s no Akim?
Bill: There is.
Virginie: Okay, but they never found this person during the investigation.
Bill: My daughter’s not a liar.
Virginie: No, I didn’t say she was.
'Life is brutal.' - Bill (Stillwater) Share on X
Bill: The press was against us. All they cared about was Allison was sleeping with some Arab girl. A bunch of fake news scumbags.
Virginie: That’s why you punched that English reporter?
Bill: I was drinking then.
Bill: That’s what a roughneck does. We make hole.
Virginie: Nedjma is a technical genius.
Nedjma: I’m not a genius. I’m just younger.
Bill: I didn’t vote.
Virginie: What? Why didn’t you vote?
Bill: Got a record. I was arrested. They don’t let you vote when that happens.
Virginie: [refering to the old bar owner] He’s a racist.
Bill: Okay, he’s a racist. We still got to talk to him.
Virginie: No. I don’t talk to him! No.
Bill: Well, he might know something.
Virginie: No, he doesn’t know something!
Virginie: Bill, we’re not going to send an innocent boy to jail.
Bill: My daughter is innocent.
Virginie: I can’t believe this conversation.
Bill: Well, then you live in some fancy-a** world, honey, because I work with guys like that all the time.
Bill: I’m trying to get my little girl out of jail. That’s all I give a f*** about.
Virginie: And you sound very American right now.
Bill: Good. I am!
Virginie: Yeah, and you’re also a stranger here! You don’t understand s**t!
Sharon: Bill, have you been drinking?
Bill: No. Listen, Sharon, I’m her father.
Sharon: Oh, my God. Bill, you’re supposed to visit and come home. Don’t mess with this.
Bill: You’re going to need to trust me on this.
Allison: What the f*** did you do?
Bill: I was trying to help.
Bill: She wouldn’t do it, Ally. Leparq wouldn’t look into the case.
Allison: Oh, my God. You f***ing lied. About all of it. Of course you did.
Allison: [to Bill] I feel so stupid. You’ve always lied to me! My entire life, always! I hate myself for ever trusting you!
Maya: Ciseau à bois.
Bill: Ciseau à bois. Well, that’s a s**tload of words for chisel.
Bill: Yeah, I used to hate school too. Hated everything about it. Dropped out of high school, worked a rig like my daddy, and started making hole. Is that what you going to do? You going to make hole?
Maya: Oui, I make hole.
Bill: No s**t. Well, you got to start out a worm. You know, that’s the lowest of the low. A worm.
Virginie: [to Bill] When I see what you guys eat, I understand why you pray before.
Renaud: [referring to Bill owning guns] It’s his culture. Culture is such a broad concept, huh?
Maya: You’re my favorite.
Bill: Favorite what?
Maya: Favorite American.
Bill: I was thinking I’d like to bring Allison by the house.
Virginie: Won’t it be too much for her?
Bill: I’d like her to see where I live. If you’re okay with it.
Virginie: Why wouldn’t I be?
Bill: Not everybody is.
Bill: [during Allison’s day pass] Are you sure we can park here?
Allison: What are they going to do? Arrest me?
Allison: [referring to Virginie] What does she do?
Bill: Well, she’s sort of an actress.
Allison: Sort of an actress? Is she a stripper?
Bill: No. She just don’t do TV acting or anything. She does theater.
Allison: Theater. Have you seen her act?
Bill: What am I going to do in a f***ing theater?
Allison: You know what’s messed up? I never had a chance to mourn her. Lina. It was so intense when we first met. She was so funny. And cool and beautiful. Then she moved in, and everything got f***ed-up. She started sleeping with other people. Like it didn’t matter. Like she was just using me. Or something. And I felt so humiliated. But, you know, the really f***ed-up thing is, I just want to see her. I just want to be with her. So much.
Allison: [to Virginie] So you two really aren’t having sex?
Bill: Allison Baker.
Allison: What? What? You’re so French now, I thought it was okay to talk about sex at the dinner table.
Virginie: And I’m curious, why did you come to Marseille to study?
Allison: It was far away. And completely different. And the pizza.
Maya: [in French] I love pizza!
Bill: I like it too.
Virginie: [in French] He’s here now. He stayed to be near you.
Allison: [in French and English] Don’t get your hopes too high with my dad. He’s a f***up. Always has been. It’s just in him. I know, because I’ve got him in me too.
Allison: I like them. Virginie and Maya. It’s good what you have.
Bill: I’m just trying to do it right.
Allison: I’m happy for you, dad.
Bill: [to himself] I don’t leave you, you don’t leave me. I don’t leave you, you don’t leave me.
Virginie: Of the play, what did you think?
Bill: Oh, it was good. Yeah.
Virginie: Yeah? What was good?
Bill: Well, I don’t f***ing know. I don’t know s**t about plays. Plus, it’s all in French.
Bill: [referring to Maya] I like spending time with her.
Virginie: And with me too?
Bill: Yeah. And you too.
Virginie: How much do you enjoy it?
Bill: A lot. I would say a lot.
Virginie: This would be a serious change for us.
Bill: Guess it would.
Virginie: You guess?
Bill: Well, I mean, I know.
Virginie: [playfully as they’re kissing] I need to ask you something.
Bill: What?
Virginie: Do you really own a gun?
Bill: Two guns.
Dirosa: [to Bill] I am an ex-cop, so let me tell you, it will be a serious mistake to commit a crime to prove your daughter innocent. It will not get her out of jail. And it will send you in. Do you understand?
Bill: [to Maya, referring to Akim, who he’s captured] I’m going to need your help. Okay? Because it’s a secret. You can’t tell anyone. Even your mom. Okay? He’s a bad man. He’ll be gone soon. It’s going to be our secret.
Allison: [referring to Mektub] It’s helping me to stop struggling so much. Stop questioning everything. You just embrace your fate, and learn to live in peace with it. It’s a Muslim idea. It’s about letting go of all of that shame, and guilt that pushes you down, and keeps you down, and makes you feel so powerless. And that’s how I felt for a really long time. Powerless and forgotten. And that makes living really hard. You know what I mean?
Bill: But you’re innocent. So we got to keep fighting.
Allison: It doesn’t matter that I’m innocent, dad. It’s not about justice. It’s about finding peace.
Akim: [referring to Allison] She gave me. She say, “Go. You put Lina out. Necklace now. Money after.”
Bill: You’re not even making sense. Time to shut the f*** up.
Akim: Stillwater!
Bill: What did you say?
Akim: The collier. He say “Stillwater”. Gold. She say, “Do it. Make her go. Make her go out.”
Virginie: I’m happy you’re here.
Bill: Me too.
Virginie: You too? You’re happy you’re here? Yeah?
Bill: I am. Really.
Virginie: Me too. I like you, Bill Baker.
[she kisses him]
Maya: [referring to Akim] The man in the cave, you will kill?
Bill: What? No. Of course not.
Bill: [in French and English] Listen to me. I would never, ever do anything to hurt you, or your mother. Never. Because I love both of you. So much. I do. You just have to trust me.
Virginie: [referring to Akim] How did you find him?
Bill: Pure chance. The soccer game.
Virginie: With Maya? Did you ask her to lie? Did you?
Bill: I never meant to involve you or Maya. I know…
Virginie: You have to leave now. Okay. You pack your things, you leave.
Leparq: [referring to Akim] So even if they can’t find the suspect, there’s a real chance they will release Allison. In fact, the judge has already agreed to reopen the investigation, which is almost unheard of. I think this could only happen in Marseille.
Bill: Thank you for coming to tell me, ma’am.
Leparq: Mr. Baker, this is the best possible outcome for your family. Do you understand?
Bill: I do. Thank you, ma’am.
Bill: [to Allison after she’s exonerated and returns to Oklahoma] The day you left for Marseille, Sharon and I drove you to the airport. When we got there, I was embarrassed I didn’t have a present or nothing, so I went to the gift shop. I thought I’d get you a book, or a key chain, or something. Then I saw this necklace. I thought it’d be like a little piece of home to take with you. It was gold. Said “Stillwater” on it.
Allison: [admits she hired Akim] I didn’t want it to happen. He told me that he would just help me get her out of the apartment, that’s all. I didn’t want her to die. I loved her!
Bill: I know you did.
Allison: You think I’m a monster?
Bill: You’re my daughter. I could never think that.
Allison: [sobbing] Dad, what is wrong with us?
Bill: I don’t know, baby girl. I don’t know.
Allison: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.
Bill: Me too.
Allison: [referring to Virginie and Maya] You miss them?
Bill: I do.
Allison: Can you go back?
Bill: No, I can’t. But it was good. That don’t change.
Allison: I’m sorry.
Bill: Life is brutal.
Allison: Everything looks the same here. Nothing’s changed. Don’t you think?
Bill: No, Ally, I don’t. It all looks different to me. I don’t hardly recognize it anymore.
Trailer: