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Water Lilies

Water Lilies (2007)

May. 17,2007
|
6.7
| Drama Romance

Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.

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Fluentiama
2007/05/17

Perfect cast and a good story

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Pacionsbo
2007/05/18

Absolutely Fantastic

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ChicRawIdol
2007/05/19

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

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ThrillMessage
2007/05/20

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

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tsimshotsui
2007/05/21

Water Lilies is a sincere debut from Celine Sciamma. She is one of the most interesting filmmakers to me because she makes great choices on subject matters to deal with, and actually makes an effort to explore areas of humanity that may not be as easily accessible to her (which doesn't seem hard but if you could just see the number of respected filmmakers who just stick to their limited perspectives again and again...). Water Lilies is not an exception to this. It tells the story of Marie and Anne, best friends, one a little too small a frame for synchronized swimming, the other a little bit the opposite. Marie and her storyline takes most of the screen time, and while I loved every bit of it, I also wanted equal screen time and focus with Anne. Marie finds herself getting attracted to Floriane, played by Adèle Haenel who is really magnetic here. Anne is attracted to this boy, but of course body image issues and society make that harder. Her storyline, though too short for my liking, gets an amazing ending. Louise Blachère is great in the role.

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Ersbel Oraph
2007/05/22

The French invented the film. And made the first films. Which were just a freak show display: boring short scenes demonstrating the new technique. It was a good policy because a 15 minute movie eats up far more film than a trigger happy photographer in the same amount of time. Once the Americans started doing business with the new tool the French had a hard time following. At the start of the 20th century they are into nationalism and cheap romance, but nothing like the Germans. After World War II they start building a glorious virtual history with easy comedy and some drama. Hollywood builds up large productions? They are going to do the same: make a list of stars and use the power of the state to impose quotas on the consumption of imported cultural goods. The New Wave was an attempt to make something. Well polished movies trying the realism mastered by the Italians some decades ago. But that was over in less than two decades. And even with the state restrictions imported movies are far more interesting even when dubbed.So in the 1990s some independent makers started exploiting shock. Sex. Unconventional. Abusive. Usually without consent. Finally 2000s brought the new step into pedophilia. Label it as art. Sell it to an audience of old males.This is a very slow movie about four youngsters. Sex. No family. No relation with the reality of the constricted Catholic society. While the French can spend their holidays with their parents well into their 40s, there is no adult here. Teens in this fairy tale seem to be able to sleep where they please. Some might argue this is some fairy tale so the reality has nothing to do with it. But even the characters are badly drawn. The chubby who is too scared to undress with the other girls at the pool where she trains is bold enough to enter the boys locker room. And deliver a message in front of everyone. And the young boys barely notice her.The relationships are also sketchy. Although it is very important for the final part, the relationship between the boy and the "cheerleader" is barely shown leaving big gaps.Bad script, bad acting, only a vehicle to deliver to a particular audience a scene of young girls masturbating.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

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queenehlana
2007/05/23

I've seen more than a dozen lesbian films. This is the worst one, probably. Or at least the most boring. I can see how it could interest someone who has puberty on their mind or wants perhaps to commiserate with some lameness that happened in their own life. But it's just a basically quiet film, not much is said, reminds me of how boring my teen years were... when I had nothing to say because I knew nothing. Don't waste your time on this if you are at all picky with your movies. I gave it a rating of 1 star, and I haven't given any other film that rating, not even When Night Is Falling, which in some ways is worse. The rating is based on how worth watching it is. If you are looking for fun entertainment, definitely avoid this.

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digdilem
2007/05/24

I liked this. The camera work, acting and studies were very good.The characters were distinct and true to form throughout, showing young love and the complications that brings. Actual nudity fairly minimal despite the erotic theme, but that eroticism is carried through quite skillfully, never overstepping the mark into porn and maintaining interest in what would otherwise be fairly dull scenes.Motives are mostly feelings and expressed in the truly clumsy way of adolescents.My only real criticism is only that it has no ending to speak of. The story is minimal and conveys more of a feeling of a time in peoples lives rather than a story by itself. A snapshot of feelings and in that it succeeds well.

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