Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin star as an estranged father and daughter, the latter of whom has traveled to France for her studies.
But she is imprisoned for a murder she did not commit, and her father must battle language barriers and other hurdles to see his daughter freed.
Like many others, the film finished production before the coronavirus pandemic hit, and its release date was postponed by eight months.
The film has had mixed reviews so far, with some praising Damon's performance.
When Is Stillwater Out In Movie Theaters?
Stillwater had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 8.
However, it was meant to premiere much earlier, and have its release in November 2020, but the coronavirus meant new plans had to be made.
As a result, the new release date for Stillwater is July 30, 2021.
It will then be released across Europe, including the U.K. and Ireland, from August 6, 2021.
The Cast of Stillwater
Matt Damon leads the cast as Bill Baker, an oil rig worker from Oklahoma. His estranged daughter is played by Abigail Breslin, who is falsely imprisoned in France for a murder.
He travels to France and has to overcome language barriers to try and help his daughter out of prison.
Helping him along the way, as he tries to understand the French penal system and the cultural differences, is Virginie and her eight-year-old daughter, Maya, played by Camille Cottin and Lilou Siauvaud.
The film was written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom McCarthy, who also directed the movie.
McCarthy is known for writing Spotlight, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as Pixar movie Up and Christopher Robin.
The True Story Behind Stillwater
The story of Stillwater is partly based on the story of Amanda Knox.
Knox was convicted for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in 2009.
She was imprisoned for four years, eventually being released and then exonerated in 2015.
In 2019, Italy was ordered to pay 18,400 euros ($21,658) in compensation to Knox for not providing her with a lawyer or competent interpreter when she was first in custody over the murder.
According to Damon, the story of Stillwater is loosely based on this, but the story has moved from Italy to France, as well as some other differences coming into play.
He told NBC's Today Show: "This is a story based kind of loosely on that, but he [ director Tom McCarthy] worked with some other writers and made up a story around it as if a girl had gone and found herself in this situation where she was in prison for a crime that she says she didn't do, and her father was a guy from Oklahoma who was a roughneck who worked on oil rigs.
"And so the story is about this father who is trying to reconnect with his daughter. The guy's made mistakes and he's gone over there but he's just not going to give up."
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