Pauline Acquart and Adèle Haenel in "Water Lilies"
(Credit: Koch Lorber)
- Running time:
- 85 minutes
- Cast:
- Pauline Acquart -
- Marie
- Louise Blachère -
- Anne
- Adele Haenel -
- Floriane
- Warren Jacquin -
- François
- Barbara Renard -
- Natacha
- Director:
- Céline Sciamma
- Genre:
- Drama
- Overall User Rating:
-
(0 ratings)
Big question: Aren’t teen sexuality and friendships just, like, so…awkward?
Skip it: Barely cracking the 80-minute mark, “Water Lilies” is so slight that it flirts with irrelevance. This well made, credibly acted but ultimately lightweight drama serves as a solid calling card for all involved. As for proving itself worthy of a theatrical release, well…
Catch it: Fortunately the film will also be available through Netflix’s on demand distribution service Red Envelope, where interested film aficionados can treat it as the light snack it really is.
Bottom line: Admirably lacking in overblown nihilism and hardly an embarrassment for first-time filmmaker Céline Sciamma (who had never even directed a short film before this) it’s still a stretch to call “Water Lilies” a film worth seeking out. Sciamma demonstrates the potential to make a truly erotic and interesting film. This just isn’t it.
Bonus: The film’s original French title “Naissance des pieuvres” translates as “Birth of the Octopuses,” which could’ve led to a lot of disappointed Discovery Channel fans.
