These Water Lilies Float Down Trite, Clichéd River

Although most remember the uncomfortable period of adolescence, many directors feel the need to remind audiences of the questions of beauty, physical awkwardness, and uncertainty associated with this phase. A director who makes a film about this stage of life often promises an original and unique cinematic take on adolescence. Unfortunately, despite her claims of a fresh perspective, Celine Sciamma’s first feature film, Water Lilies, joins the plethora of films that portray this fascinating period in a clichéd and unrealistic manner.

Water Lilies focuses on the lives of three archetypal 15-year-old girls. Anne (Louise Blachere) is the chubbiest, least attractive, and most childish, while Floriane (Adele Haenel) is Anne’s opposite—she is the most physically developed and, aware of her femininity and attractiveness, often acts quite seductively. Marie (Pauline Acquart) lies somewhere in between—she is pretty, but awkward and under-developed. The film thus presents three caricatures—the loser, the popular girl, and the one torn between loyalty and popularity.

Having chosen to play with stereotypes, Sciamma is unable to deviate from the predictable. Marie, who is initially best friends with Anne, becomes obsessed with Floriane. As she embarks on a quest to become closer to Floriane, she abandons Anne completely. Although Floriane brutally manipulates Marie, the audience almost finds itself hoping that Sciamma will not resort to the unsurprising resolution of Marie and Anne’s reconciliation.

When Sciamma does try to step out of the realm of cliché, she leaps so far out of it that the characters’ actions become unrealistic. Anne, who is predictably obsessed with the popular guy dating Floriane, buries her bra under his window. At the peak of Marie’s fixation on Floriane, she goes through Floriane’s trash and nibbles on a rotting apple. Sciamma views this as realistic. In a press screening interview with Thierry Jousse, she explained, “Traditionally, films on teenagers are full of talk ... I don’t think it’s necessarily right to associate teenagers with a lot of talking ... I tried to think of Water Lilies as an action film. You say you’re in love by eating a trashcan.” Eating someone’s trash seems more like an act of mental illness than a typical adolescent expression of obsession.

Rather than claiming that her take on adolescence is dramatic, Sciamma explained, “I think it’s important to talk about subjects you know. At my age, you can talk about things that happened ten years ago. You’ve digested it but it’s still fresh.” Perhaps Sciamma has digested it too much. Although she is only 27, she seems to have forgotten what adolescence was really like, and instead has created a fairy-tale like fantasy, complete with a moral at the end.

The film has only two redeeming factors—the setting and the music. Most of the film takes place at a swimming pool, as Floriane is the leading member of a synchronized swimming team. This unique setting highlights the awkwardness of adolescence, as physical appearance is a large factor in such a sport. The electronic music by Para One, which Sciamma chose “because it is powerfully cinematographic,” provides an amazing, rhythmic soundtrack that perfectly accompanies the movements of bodies in the water.
Other than the music, however, there is no reason to see Water Lilies unless you want to be hit over the head with the importance of loving and being true to yourself. In the director’s own words, the film is “about what a tough job it is to be a girl.” With Sciamma completely stuck in clichés and fantasies, save yourself the $11 and download the soundtrack instead.