SPOILERS: Even if you’ve just read a couple of Stillwater reviews, you know that Abigail Breslin‘s “Allison Baker” character is doing time in a Marseilles jail for the murder of her girlfriend. You also know the movie is about Matt Damon‘s “Bill Baker”, her bumblefuck dad, trying to uncover evidence that might pin the blame on a fair-haired white guy named Akim (Idir Azougli).
Here are the spoiler parts: (a) By the end of the film I’m not 100% sure if the movie has clarified the matter of Allison’s guilt or innocence, and (b) there’s a third-act moment in which a stressed and frenzied Akim explains something about the climactic moment in which Allison’s girlfriend died (i.e., something to do with a necklace?). Except I couldn’t understand what Akim was saying.
Friendo: Do you think the movie is saying that the daughter was guilty? I didn’t necessarily get that.
HE: It seemed to be saying that she probably was. Those middle-aged French guys sitting around a poker table and discussing Allison’s case…”she killed her, that’s love.”
Friendo: But some were saying that she wasn’t guilty. I thought the point (it was fuzzy so I’m not at all clear on it) is that [Akim] killed her, but she was there.
HE: Then why does she endure four years in that Marseilles jail before asking her dad to reach out to an attorney to pursue a lead about Akim’s possible culpability?
Friendo: And when Akim blurts out what he knows, obviously something important…I couldn’t understand him.
HE: His thick French accent plus the shrieking tone and stress in his voice….the combination was insurmountable.
Friendo: And it was the key plot point in the film!
HE to Commentariat: Can anyone clear this up? Allison, Akim and the whole damn shmear?