‘Stillwater’ shows the successes and failures of human connection

Directed by Tom McCarthy (Participant, 2021)

Stillwater opens with the roar of demolition, a swift montage of heart breaking as Matt Damon’s Bill Baker, a laconic oilman and drug addict, helps a team demolish the American Dream, one abandoned building at a time. The Oklahoma landscape sets us up for yet another Hollywood take on Trump-era Red State desperation, only for the plot to take us to the south of France, where flannel, baseball cap, and Bill’s work boots are a big relief for director Tom McCarthy. shots of Mediterranean architecture and crystal-clear coasts.

No tourist, Bill works in the plains to spare visits to his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), imprisoned in Marseille for the murder of his girlfriend while studying abroad. There’s more to the two than bulletproof glass: Allison left their small town to go as far as she could. Newly cosmopolitan and fluent in French, she embodies a caged desire for forward movement and change, strongly paralleling Bill’s clumsy attempts to make her mark on the culture.

The common thread of the film is Bill’s quest to prove his daughter’s innocence. It is also there that he is strongest; we feel his growing helplessness as he tries to navigate a world where much is foreign to him. Help comes in the form of a bohemian actress (Camille Cottin) and her young daughter (Lilou Siauvaud), who welcome Bill into their lives after a kind gesture. Although given by Cottin, this relationship seems sickening and forced. Professional directing is never able to establish a realistic relationship between these divergent characters.

The film strives to show the potential for human connection across class and culture, but these themes languish to the surface as the plot sinks into implausibility. Ultimately, Bill’s downfall is ingrained individualism, which robs him of what he truly desires. The awkwardly processed material does the same for the audience.


This article also appears in the November 2021 issue of US Catholic (Vol. 86, No. 11, page 38). Click here to subscribe to the magazine.

Image: Jessica Forde / Focus Features

Comments are closed.