Matt Damon stars in an Oklahoma-set murder mystery. Sounds intriguing. Stillwater is an American crime thriller film directed by Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy and released on July 30, 2021. The film is accessible for streaming on Prime Videos.
In Stillwater, Abigail Breslin plays Bill Baker, the father of Allison Baker, played by Matt Damon, a well-known actor from films such as The Martian and Good Will Hunting. The actress gained notoriety for her parts in the films Zombieland, Zombieland: Double Tap, My Sister’s Keeper, and many more.
Maya, Camille Cottin’s character, was portrayed by thirteen-year-old actor Lilou Siauvaud, while Camille Cottin herself played the role of a single mother. Idir Azougli portrays the character of Akim. The film features an excellent ensemble of supporting actors who greatly enhance the film.
The movie’s plot revolves around a murder that Bill’s daughter is involved in but denies doing, and how Bill travels from Oklahoma to France to look into the murder and establish his daughter’s innocence.
There are rumours that the narrative was partially inspired by a real-life murder that happened in Italy in 2007. The Stillwater’s publication sparked more scepticism over Amanda Knox’s investigation—the teenager whose roommate was killed.
Plot Of The Movie
Matt Damon’s persona and his lifestyle in Stillwater, Oklahoma, are first presented in the film. To make ends meet, Bill Baker performs a variety of strange labour tasks. After killing her roommate Lina, Bill’s daughter Allison has been imprisoned in France for nearly four years, and Bill has not paid her a single visit.
Sharon, Bill’s mother-in-law, has been seeing Allison and keeping Bill updated on her condition up until this point. However, it takes her four years to persuade Bill to pay her a visit in Marseille, France. The scene shifts to the father and daughter’s first meeting after a four-year separation when he accepts to meet her.
To put it mildly, the talk is unpleasant and awkward. Their relationship is strained because they haven’t spoken for the past four years and their daughter was found guilty of murder. During this call, Allison asks her father to forward a letter she wrote to Leparq, her attorney.
The letter’s contents discuss a professor named Patrick Okonedo and his discussion of a man named Akim. It refers to Akim’s past, in which he fatally stabbed a girl before killing Lina. Allison and the professor both believe Akim killed Lina.
After receiving and reading the letter, attorney Leparq declined to file a request to reopen the case inquiry because he does not think the story is true given the available facts. Allison appears to have great faith in her attorney, which keeps her optimistic.
Bill doesn’t want to let Allison down, so he doesn’t inform his daughter that her letter was thrown away carelessly. He then informs her that her attorney has consented to carry out her request. It is in the motel where Bill is staying that he runs across Virginie and her small daughter, Maya.
Since the letter was written in French, Bill asks Virginie to translate its contents for him. When Bill finally comprehends the letter, he learns about Akim—the man Allison suspects—and how powerless Allison feels because her father does not share her belief.
Bill decides to pursue the Akim man directly to clear his daughter’s name. After paying a visit to the professor referenced in the letter, he resumes his hunt for Akim. Additionally, Virginie has committed to assisting Bill in regaining his daughter’s trust.
Bill and Virginie both run into another female who says that Akim is the real murderer. Once Allison’s assumption was verified, they launched their inquiry and combed through every social media post to identify the potential candidate for Akim. Bill visits Allison after they’ve finally been able to identify the person they think is Akim.
Ending Explained
To compare Akim’s DNA to the unidentified DNA discovered at the crime scene, Bill set out to find him and collect his samples. Dirosa, an ex-policeman, promised to assist Bill in finding Akim, but he insisted on receiving 12,000 euros in return for his assistance.
Bill, who was already surviving off his mother-in-law’s income, made the independent decision to look for Akim. At a party, Souad was contacted by Akim, but Bill and Virginie met him. He was intimately associated with a street gang, so the girl declined to turn on him.
Virginie stalked Souad’s Instagram account with the help of her friend Nedjma. Before Lina passed away, they downloaded group photos of every student in Allison’s social circle. Allison recognized Akim in one of the photos as “a thin, shady Arab guy with long hair” after Bill showed her the visual proof.
Thankfully, Bill located Akim while scouting the suburbs of Kalliste, but he was unable to apprehend him. Bill was violently beaten by the gang members after they grabbed him. Though Akim vanished from sight, Bill remained in Marseille to eventually track him down.
Bill moved into Virginie’s flat four months after she started working as a construction worker to save money on rent. He and Maya grew close, and he took care of her while Virginie was away or attending rehearsals for her play.
Bill once took Maya to an Olympique de Marseille game, where they saw Akim. While Maya slept in the truck, Bill followed Akim and, when the time was right, kidnapped him. Bill imprisoned Akim in the basement of the building and, to help him match the DNA got in touch with Dirosa without disclosing Akim’s whereabouts.
Akim told Bill in terrible English while they were in custody that Allison had paid him to “put Lina out.” He claimed that she compensated him with her “Stillwater” jewellery. After a brief period of shock, Bill attempted to ask Sharon about the Stillwater necklace but ran into dead ends.
Bill’s reckless ambitions were revealed to his elders by Dirosa before he could look for the missing piece of the puzzle. When the police went to Virginie’s apartment, they looked in the basement, but they were unable to locate Akim.
When Dirosa went to the building to ask about the basement, Virginie had already let Akim go. Given that there was an extra key in the flat, she most likely would have used it to release the padlock. Following the police visit and investigation, Virginie told Bill that she was aware of everything he had done and demanded that he leave the house right away.
She did not want Bill to be a constant source of danger for her kid. Lepard informed Bill before he departed from Marseille of the recently discovered evidence, which included Akim’s DNA, and how the judge had decided to reopen the case in light of it.
Although Akim was never located, Allison was freed by the court. She and Bill went back to Oklahoma. Bill mentioned the “Stillwater” necklace during their chat back home. Allison admitted that she gave Akim the chain to “make Lina go out” of her flat after realizing that Bill was aware of her secret.
Because Allison didn’t speak French well, Akim misinterpreted her and killed Lina. Allison had been unfaithful to Lina. It turned into a cause of the lovers’ frequent fights. But Allison became enraged and did something severe since Lina was not ready to leave the apartment. She didn’t plan to kill her, though. The distinction between good and wrong is not always clear.
Sometimes it’s so obvious that you can’t even tell when or where you crossed it. Was Allison a monster? No, but until Bill brought up the “Stillwater” necklace, she refused to face the reality, which made her just as defective as the rest of us.
I suppose it’s okay to be grey in a cruel life in a world that is quickly coming to an end. After that, did Allison end up in prison? No, but she did have a sense of grief as she had lost Lina, her sweetheart, as a result of making bad choices in life. The shame that might follow her forever.
“You miss them (Virginie and Maya)?” Allison asks Bill during their visit at the end of Stillwater. Yes, sir, he truly does miss them, but he cannot go back because life is too cruel.
Lost is lost forever. For Bill, nothing in America will ever be the same since everything has changed. He doesn’t even know what life would be like without Maya and Virginie.
