McCarthy’s newest is pas mal, thanks to Damon and Cottin
Stillwater is a strange movie that somehow works in spite of itself. It tries to be many things: a murder mystery, a character study, a redemptive father/daughter drama, a romance, and a fish out of water culture clash, to name just a few. Some of these elements are strong and some are weak, but, taken together, they create a whole that is worth more than its parts, and make the picture worth a look despite its flaws.
Writer/Director Tom McCarthy returns to the screen post-2015’s brilliant Spotlight with a trio of screenwriters (American Marcus Hinchey and Frenchmen Noé Debré and Thomas Bidegain, of A Prophet and Rust and Bone fame) to create Stillwater. The film is very loosely inspired by the much-covered plight of Amanda Knox, though the movie really only uses the bare bones of Knox’s story as a springboard for its own completely fictional narrative.
McCarthy et al.’s tale finds Oklahoma roughneck Bill (Matt Damon) travelling to Marseille to visit his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin), a former university exchange student imprisoned for the murder of her girlfriend. Allison vehemently maintains her innocence, and Bill, thwarted and confused by a French justice system he doesn’t understand, takes matters into his own hands to try and free his daughter. Along the way he meets Virginie, a sympathetic single mother and actress (played by the remarkable Camille Cottin of Call My Agent, which, if you’re not already watching on Netflix, you should, pronto) and her charming nine-year-old daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud).
Bill extends his initial visit and takes up residence with Virginie and Maya. He bonds with the two — especially with Maya — as he tries to make up for his failings raising his own daughter. But his main purpose remains to find and confront a suspect ignored by the authorities in the murder case that has imprisoned Allison. As such, he unwittingly involves Virginie and Maya in his dangerous quest, and watching the consequences of his poor decisions unspool provides some of the film’s most intense and electric scenes.
These heart-pounding, tense scenes (the best of which come toward the end), though, are somewhat of a reward for the viewer, who has to sit through a slow slog of a middle section, in which a whole lot of nothing happens. The film, clocking in at two hours and twenty minutes, should have been cut by about a third, and the middle section significantly tightened. While we understand that McCarthy et al. are trying to show how Bill adapts to his new environment while struggling to connect with both his daughter and his new found-family, the exceedingly overlong stretch that outlines these plot points is overkill.
What makes these scenes watchable at least are Damon and Cottin’s performances. Following his fine turn in Ford v Ferrari, Damon is on a roll, finding nuances and complexity here in a character that could easily have become a one-note caricature, especially as Bill is met with incredulity by Virginie’s theater friends who snicker at his gun ownership and possible voting choices. But his chemistry with Cottin carries the picture, and she’s excellent as an initially wary and protective mother who eventually lets her guard down. Young Siauvaud is a find, exhibiting warmth and intelligence without being too precocious or cloying. Maya’s rapport with Bill is instant and natural, and their scenes together are some of the movie’s best. Breslin is probably the weakest of the main players. Her performance often feels forced and over the top, alternating between stilted line readings and scenery-chewing angst.
But again, there are more pluses than minuses here. The picture stands as both a smart and compassionate psychological study of a man whose poor choices stem from a deep love, and as a showcase for exceptional American and French acting. But honestly if you’ve read this far and I still haven’t convinced you, then go ahead and skip this one… and go watch Call My Agent instead. That’s something I can recommend with zero caveats.
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Stillwater opens today at Bay Area theaters.
