The story has sensationalistic roots; it’s vaguely inspired by the case of Amanda Knox, an American exchange student living in Italy who was convicted of murdering her roommate, spent four years in prison, and was later acquitted.

Allison (Abigail Breslin) is serving out a sentence in France for the murder of her girlfriend, the implied media circus surrounding her trial has faded, and her father, Bill (Matt Damon), clearly has a routine going.

He checks into a Best Western in Marseille for two-week stints, eats primarily at American-based fast-food outlets, and despite having clearly spent a substantial amount of time in France, steadfastly speaks to everyone in English.

Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, Lilou Siauvaud, Deanna Dunagan.

(Allison, we learn, was raised largely by her grandmother on her mom’s side, as her dad did time on oil rigs.) So Bill seems determined to make amends, especially when Allison thinks she has a lead on a suspicious character she encountered the night of the murder who could exonerate her, if only someone could track him down.

Yet Stillwater is not some Taken-style fantasy in which Hollywood liberal Matt Damon dresses in red-state drag to mete out American justice.

By chance, Bill gains a translator in Virginie (Camille Cottin), an actress also staying at the hotel while she prepares to move into a new apartment with her young daughter, Maya (Lilou Siauvaud).