Stillwater

 2.5/4

Starring: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Lilou Siauvaud, Abigail Breslin

Rated R for Language

"Stillwater" is many things at once: a murder mystery, a father-daughter drama, a culture clash comedy, and a journey of self-discovery.  If it isn't a perfect mix of all of these genres, well it gets damn well close. At least until the final half hour when it completely self-destructs.  Many films are near-misses because they can't stick the landing.  "Stillwater" starts out as a near-masterpiece then blows its brains out.  God knows why.

Bill Baker (Damon) is an Oklahoma roughneck looking for work.  His situation is complicated because he needs to make frequent visits to Marseille, France.  That's where his daughter Allison (Breslin) is being jailed, having been convicted of murdering her roommate four years ago.  Allison is innocent, and asks her father to pass along a note to her attorney, asking her to investigate new evidence.  It's heresay, so the prosecutor declines.  That doesn't deter Bill, who decides to investigate on his own.

The performances are excellent.  Matt Damon has never given a bad performance, and he buries himself into the character of Bill Baker.  From the blue collar look (goatee, trucker hat, shades) to his unfailing use of "ma'am" in every possible circumstance and his almost shockingly blunt speech, Damon is exactly how you'd picture a rural oil man.  He doesn't stop at mimicry, however.  Damon knows that the outfit and the speech patterns are just half the battle.  He shines a light on Bill's flaws, which are considerable (Allison puts it bluntly: "he's a fuck up").  And his insistence on independence and going his own way does more harm than good.

As good as Damon is, the one who stuck out most for me is his co-star Camille Cottin.  She plays Virginie, a woman who starts out as a nuisance and ends up as his lover.  The actress embodies a sense of giving love that touches the soul.  Their relationship, which is initially based on mutual need, is nicely developed.  If Bill provides the drive, Virginie provides the heart.  I haven't seen the actress in anything else before, but I'm hoping she gets more work in Hollywood.  Had the film ended better, I could see her getting an Oscar nomination.

It's important to understand about "Stillwater" is that it's not a thriller.  That's just one aspect of the plot gives Bill his drive.  This is Bill's story, and as such co-writer/director Tom McCarthy has placed him at the film's nexus.  Everything that happens is included to show his development as a person.  He has to own his mistakes, risk falling in love, and try to do the right thing.  There is suspense, but McCarthy keeps it low key.  At least until the end, when he starts throwing in all sorts of thriller cliches that destroy the film's credibility and betray everything that came before it.

What the hell was he thinking?  McCarthy directed "The Visitor," "Win Win" and the Oscar-winning "Spotlight."  He knows how to keep an audience engaged by creating strong characters and exploring their lives.  Neither one had a real plot in the conventional sense, but they had the courage of their convictions and followed their stories to their natural conclusion.  Not here.  Little of what happens in the final act is credible, and in order for it to work, McCarthy has to commit character assassination.  The people he and his actors have so nicely developed with such specificity and honesty have become the pawns of a bored screenwriter using a "dial a cliche" program.  I won't go into spoilers to avoid saying how dumb it is, but the final act belongs in a movie written by Joe Eszterhas.  In a dumb, high voltage thriller some of what happens might work, but in a sensitive drama like this?  Not at all.

I had high hopes for this movie, and as I got deeper into it, I was delighted at how much it had surpassed them.  I was ready to text friends saying I had just seen the first great movie of 2021.  In fact, it was well on its way to being the first 4/4 movie of the year.  Then it utterly collapsed into total nonsense.  I ended this movie feeling angered and betrayed.