3 out of 5 stars
“Be sure your sins will find you out…”
Academy Award-winning director Tom McCarthy (Spotlight) is back with a story of a father's desire for redemption from past sins. Stillwater takes us on a journey of the unemployed roughneck Bill Baker (Matt Damon), who seeks to exonerate his daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin). She has been imprisoned in the French city of Marseilles for the murder of a young woman. This clash of cultures provides enough twists and turns to keep audiences engaged until the conclusion.
We are introduced to the father during his trip to France where Bill hopes to gain information from his daughter that could prove her innocence of a crime she did not commit. This man’s mission is meant to regain her trust from past difficulties and win back Allison’s heart. Even though he is not a lawyer, investigator or law enforcement officer, he takes on the case himself. Bill seeks to find the person truly responsible for the crime his daughter has been accused of committing. Even though he does not know anyone in this foreign land, Bill is fortunate to meet Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her daughter Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). This compassionate French woman takes a liking to Bill’s lunk-headed simplicity and agrees to help by allowing him to have an extended stay in her home. During his stay in Virginie’s flat, the blue-collar worker turned detective is given a second chance at life and love.
Damon and Cottin do prove to have convincing enough chemistry throughout the film. Still, the lead actor’s connection with Siauvaud’s character infuses this meandering story with an unexpected magical element. With his relationships between Virginie and Maya there is an underlying hope that he will begin a new life in Marseilles by turning over a new leaf. In the process, he works to regain Allison’s trust and work towards redemption by overcoming past family secrets that play a significant factor in his quest for justice.
What is fascinating about Stillwater is how McCarthy plays against expectations and types. There might be an expectation that this film would be an action-thriller where Damon unleashes his dormant, inner Jason Bourne and takes down the bad guys. But the celebrated director takes us down a different path that meanders and tests our patience. Throughout the first act, the audience will likely begin to wonder if McCarthy has lost his way. However, as Virginie and Bill’s relationship grows, so does the attachment to these individuals. What begins to unfold is a fascinating story of love and redemption that plays against expectation going into the cinema. Even though it begins to feel hopeless for the rough and ready lead. This will make most viewers cheer for Bill to keep all that he is trying to achieve, but as the tagline ominously tells us, “secrets run deep.”
McCarthy’s multi-layered tale is overly long and becomes a bittersweet family drama. Eventually turning into a cautionary tale that forces the viewer to take stock of their own lives. This is a story that proves to be a modern-day parable of the old proverb found in Numbers 32:23, “be sure your sins will find you out.” No matter how hard we try to conceal our sin and lies, they eventually catch up to us, whether in this life or the next. It has been said, sin/lies “will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”
Reel Dialogue: Is redemption even possible in this life?
Do our faults, failures, shortcomings, sins and lies guarantee we are bound to pay a hefty price, whether in this life or the next? The good news of scripture is that a Saviour came from heaven to pay the price for us to find redemption… atonement from our past in this life and salvation in the life to come. To learn more about redemption, read the Gospel of John or the Old Testament book of Hosea to learn more about what Jesus Christ has done to accomplish redemption for us.
