French girls' friendship becomes strained as they develop sexually. Its hard to believe that these girls were ever really that close of friends considering how divergent their personalities are portrayed in the movie.

Whilst driven by a strong female lead and an absorbing, slow plot, Girls Can't Swim suffers from lazy direction at times, with some scenes overtly long that serves as distraction from an otherwise engrossing story. The dramatic and sexual tension between the two friends was built well only to be thrown away abruptly, leading to a shocking, if not slightly unsatisfactory ending. Despite this, the film manages to capture the viewer with a slew of emotional moments that are stringed together, on the most part, smoothly and efficiently. One feels with better focus, and more elaboration of the more crucial scenes, this could have been a great French drama.

This movie drags on and on without a great deal going on. Its quite a long and tedious movie and lacks almost everything. The character development is very weak and both of the lead girls are unlikeable. I wish i had marked this one Not Interested.

Two best friends that have been separated look forward to spending the summer together. All's not as well as it first appears though. Gwen is a confused girl who uses her sexuality to embrace some sort of acceptance missing from her mother and father. Lise is emotionally repressed, even being told not to cry after her father's death. It's a film that captures those awkward moments of youth, friends one minute and then arguing the next, but never really explores them. The film keeps the audience interested with the different twists and turns but mostly it is how each character deals with situations that become the most exciting part. Gwen's father is the most conflicted of all characters as he drunkenly tries to do what is right for his family and get in his estranged wifes good books once again. At the same time he is also trying to be a strict father to a promiscuous daughter and a father figure to a girl who has lost her own. Not everybody, but certainly for those who like slightly dark and awkward cinema.

Interesting French movie..delving into the dangerous and fickle minds of teenage girls... well enacted..in your face at times...

That Lise sure liked to put a damper on a persons day by making them as miserable as her. Reminds me of some bitch I went to college with.

I'm not sure what to think of it, but it was interesting.

i like the experimental cinematography and narrative and the story was great, but i think there's just so many ways it could have been better

This movie is an emotional rollercoaster ride. To me it represents the great difference between growing up in a European country as opposed to America.

By far the worst and most disturbing film I've ever seen - and I tend to like foreign films better than U.S. films.

Rubbish. An hour and a half of my life I won't get back.

I liked aspects of this movie very much. You feel Gwen's frustration, confusion and desperation over the changing nature of her friendship with Lise. Still, Gwen is a flawed heroine -- she's self-absorbed and can't grow mentally... While this is a strong and poignant coming-of-age story, this film is undone by its conrived ending, which is over-the-top and unnecessary. This would be 5 stars if you cut out the last 15 minutes... Why do the French have to be so fatalisitic? (Excuse the broad generalization, but it seems endings of this type are not so uncommon in French film...)

yes!!! girl's can SWIM

Waste of TIME!! Very Weak movie, DO NOT WATCH, if you do end up watching it, side effects may include: Suicide, murder ramapages, road ramapage, any kinds of ways of harming yourself, and many others...

(**): [img]http://images.chrc4work.com/images/user/icons/icon13.gif[/img] Okay film that has some good acting but I still don't get "the point" of the film. I guess its about the problems of growing up but I just didn't really care.

[b]SYNOPSIS:[/b] Even though they grew up in opposite parts of France, Gwen (Isild Le Besco) and Lise (Karen Alyx) are best friends and spend every summer vacation together on the Brittany coast where Gwen lives and Lise's family has a summer home. But this summer is different because Lise's family isn't going on vacation for reasons that she won't explain to Gwen. Sick of her parents bickering about money and missing her bosom buddy, Gwen finds a boyfriend and mingles with some horny out-of-towners. Now fifteen, she's discovered that summer can be fun even if Lise isn't there. Then suddenly, Lise shows up at Gwen's house uninvited to stay for a couple of weeks. The following days are filled with unexpected surprises, causing the girls to reevaluate the importance of their friendship and the nature of their teenage anxieties. Anne-Sophie Birot's first feature delicately captures the intimacy and uncertainty between two teenage girls whose lives are teetering on the verge of adulthood. The performances by newcomers Isild Le Besco and Karen Alyx are impressive for the subtle shifts in mood they express between wanting to be independent of one another while still remaining inseparable. [b]RATING:[/b] NR but R for language, nudity, sex, some violence recommended [b]RUN TIME:[/b] 1 hour, 42 minutes [center][img]http://popmatters.com/film/reviews/g/images/girls-cant-swim.jpg[/img][/center] [b]REVIEW:[/b] It's well acted sure, but the story is so bland and boring. It veers toward melodrama. There really isn't much more to say about it. Put it this way - it's a story about two girls, one who's dealing with her Dad dying in a car accident and another one who goes around banging guys on the beach, in the boat yard, etc. When the grieving girl comes down to kick it with the ho-girl, they clash and their friendship comes to end, I suppose is the meaning of the ending. Eh, if you got nothing better to do, check it out I guess.