Imagine being the parent of a child found guilty of murdering her roommate while attending college in another country. That’s the premise behind Stillwater, which many believe takes its inspiration from Amanda Knox — an American convicted of murdering her roommate in Italy back in 2007, who was later released when found innocent.

It's easy to find the similarities, but this film ultimately feels like someone took the idea of a wrongfully convicted American in a foreign country and created their own narrative. It certainly feels "ripped from the headlines," but those unfamiliar with the nuances of the Knox situation may find similarities more in line with films about Americans navigating their way around foreign countries, whether it’s a wrongfully accused prison film like Brokedown Palace or the action-thriller Taken. A dramatic, fish-out-of-water tale. 

Stillwater doesn’t follow the accused daughter but rather her father, Bill Baker; an unemployed oil rig worker from Oklahoma who tries to prove his daughter, who is serving time in a Marseille prison, is innocent of murder. As he searches for the real killer in France, he is confronted by a series of challenges and obstacles, both internal and external, while also building a life for himself in Marseille. During this time he befriends a single mother and her daughter, with whom he creates a bond.

Stillwater stars Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin, Camille Cottin, and Lilou Siauvaud, and is co-written and directed by Oscar®-winner Tom McCarthy.

Here are five screenwriting takeaways from Stillwater:

Defining the main character

Within the first few minutes of the film and with hardly any dialogue, the main character becomes well defined. The audience can tell exactly who this person is and have an expectation of the character moving forward. Just in the first couple minutes, Bill Baker (Damon):

• Works a blue-collar job cleaning up damaged homes after a tornado.
• Orders fast food.
• Prays before eating.
• Has a house that is a bit of a mess.
• Struggles to get a job on an oil rig.
• He seemingly has no friends and spends most of his time alone — no spouse or other children.

Writers can see how they can quickly introduce a character by showing and not telling. It would be easy for the lead character to have a conversation with a colleague about where he’s at in life, but the impact is better when seen rather than told.

What’s your inciting incident?

By the time we meet the characters in the story, Allison (Breslin) has been in a French prison for five years and Bill is going through the motions of traveling to France to visit her. It seems routine, and within the hero’s journey it’s establishing the world of our hero as he knows it.

During his first visit to see his daughter, Allison passes Bill a note written in French and asks him to give it to the lawyer who defended her. Although he doesn't know what the letter says, he does as he’s told and gives it to the lawyer. Unfortunately, the lawyer can’t help. Bill then asks Virginie (Cottin), a new acquaintance who he meets by happenstance, to translate the letter for him.

What’s revealed in the letter is the hero’s call to adventure and writers can see how an established character background and circumstances compels him into action.

Establishing the rules

Whether it’s a different country or different office setting, each location has its set of rules. In Stillwater, Bill knows the rules of the Oklahoma town he resides in. Marseille, France is its own city with its own rules. Part of the conflict draws on his set ways in a city that doesn’t play by his rules.

Even his dialogue with Virginie indicates his unfamiliarity with how the society is built up in Marseille. These rules add a fish-out-of-water element to the story, allowing both the character and the audience to go on a journey of many unknowns and face struggles in navigating the foreign territory.

Parallels to the United States

While countries have different cultures and attitudes toward life, there is more that people have in common than many realize. Stillwater shows these similarities as Bill tries to track down the person who committed the crime that his daughter is in prison for.

Whether it’s liberal-leaning artists; racists, courteous staff members, single parents, criminals, sports fans or others, there are plenty of instances that audience members in any country can point out and relate to in the characters, either by their own beliefs or associations with others in society. This also includes socioeconomic disparities, racial tensions, and religious biases.

Writers can see how even minor characters play a critical role in telling the overall story, adding truth to the human condition and making the situation more relatable.

Changing courses

Stillwater has plenty of twists, red herrings, and direction changes. Writers can observe how the film plants these scenes within the narrative to drive conflict, maintain interest, and push the lead characters into different directions along their journey.

Some of the twists come from the lead’s own self-destructive behavior, while others are coincidental or based on external influences. One of the biggest turns to the film (and the close of the first act) involves Bill’s stubbornness and how he impedes the search for the true killer. This event throws the film into a different direction and impacts his relationships with Allison, Virginie and Maya (Siauvaud), as well as the time he planned to spend in France.

Most importantly though, this conclusion to the first act has the audience wondering where the story will go from there, as the film seemingly changes tone and purpose.

Finally, Stillwater follows a similar path of the hero’s journey and weaves a tale from crime thriller to coming-of-age drama, if coming-of-age works for a man in his forties.

Stillwater is currently in theaters.