Review of Water Lilies (2007) by Ryan H — 08 Feb 2011

Yes Spencer, I finally watched it. Water Lilies is a film with some emotionally deep characters with many reasons behind each action they make. Marie is a shy girl who is in love with Floriane, a girl who all the guys love but girls hate.

On top of that, Anne is in love with the same guy who is trying to have sex with Floriane. All of this coming together in the film is interesting. Sciamma does an excellent job in helping us understand such a shy character without forcing her to say anything.

Everything just felt so natural. The shots and the way Marie looks at the world helps the audience truly understand what she's going through. I'm not too sure I got the point of the synchronized swimming.

Yes, it was a great way for the characters to come together and to give everything a setting, but I could have done with less watching them actually doing the swimming. I really enjoyed the humor that is placed throughout the film.

It is awkward and I felt bad for laughing at it, but that's the way it is when growing up. The scene when the guy sees Anne completely naked in the locker room when she was trying to make sure no one saw her was funny, even though it was heartbreaking at the same time.

They even bring it back later, but this time she is standing in front of the door naked hoping he walks in. She wants his attention. She even has sex with him without him ever kissing her even though in the beginning she says she wants the kissing to come first.

I just wanted to jump into the movie and tell Anne that she's making a huge mistake, that he is only doing it because he is horny. She doesn't need to have sex just to feel good about herself.

There are so many girls I wish would understand this. They also do a great job of revealing Floriane as a real person. At first it looks like everyone loves her and she's getting all the guys, but we find out she is a virgin and none of the girls really like her.

We learn all of this with Marie. That's the strongest point of the film: Sciamma takes us through the summer of their awaking with them. If they go through it, and if they learn something then so do we.

The ending seems a little too obvious to have Anne and Marie jump in a pool once they are done with the people they are in love with, but it still worked. Overall, Water Lilies is a strong coming of age film that goes about the subject of sex in a new and more realistic way.