A beautiful film depicting how it feels to come of age and to experience the thrill of attraction.

Personally, I found this movie very entertaining and touching too. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good drama film.

a body constructed by disassembling Lauret's failure seems to suggest that he cannot fully integrate into the boy's world, and that the decisive reason is because of the biological gender gap between humans. But this is not the end of Lore's experiment. Before the swimming meet with the children, Laure takes his own red swimsuit out of the box and cuts off his upper body. A girl's body, which is integrally constituted in a swimsuit, is separated by Lore's hand and foretells that she will leap into another body image. Seeing himself in a swimsuit in front of a mirror, Laure feels unsatisfied with just a separate swimsuit, and makes a substitute for a man's root that comes into his hand while pretending to play with clay. The clay genitals successfully finish their job in swimsuits and wait for the day they are reused in Lauret's jewel box. "Some of the bodies, which are often absent, are conveniently portable through the children's imagination, threatening the 'original' position." As his brother Jeanne (Maron Levana) and Lauret act like a gentleman by sticking their cut hair together like a mustache, becoming a man is a kind of game in which they partially reconstruct themselves and find other uses. The fact that the biological part is decisive also means that the boundaries between sexes are at risk. If the fact that Laure has other sexes plays a decisive role in the story, it forms a net of reversed meanings from the level of image. In the "Truth or Dialogue" game, Michael (Laure) chews the gum that Lisa (Gene Dyson) chewed at the request of her children. On the part of the person who made him do it, Michael thought he was a boy, but just because he was a girl doesn't change the meaning of his action. The reason why Lisa and Michael look awkward in the scene of makeup is because they looked like a child imitating an adult or a boy wearing makeup. The reason why his mother wore a blue dress to Lauret is because it doesn't suit Lauret at all. While the phenomenon of cross-gender costumes continues to be consistent with biological sex, the world of clear gender segregation accepts a more distinct mixture without even knowing it. In that sense, synchronized swimming in "Water lilies" is similar to dancing. Synchronized swimming is an image sport in which members dance to the beat, and a body sport that is divided. The audience watches the body parts like the legs, arms, and heads that are up on the water. Selin Siama transforms sports on the surface of the water into underwater exercises through Marie (Pauline Aquar). Under the water, as opposed to accurate and precise underwater movements, the flexible and hasty body movements, which can be grasped at once why they are compared to octopus, spread naked. A bird's-eye shot of two girls jumping into the water, connected to support each other, shows a gesture that flatly integrates separated bodies and refuses to belong to either the upper or lower part of the water.

4.3 there's a bit of forced chemistry build up, but anyone with empathy or a libido can't look away from how well it's made and the passionate still scenes.

A beautifully tender drama about young love in its many shapes and sizes is rich, honest, and sensitive towards its young cast who shine under Sciamma's direction.

Water Lilies is a great coming of age story that feels like it's the awkward middle chapter of an Eighth Grade/Book Smart trilogy.

A simple, marvelousl and interesting love story between 2 girls, and another one in the background. The film captures beautifully the souls of his characters. The end was unusual but wow ... I cried.

There was very little plot, a lot of unnecessary nudity, and no satisfying conclusion. The plot lacks everything taught about making a compelling satisfying story. there's no main problem that needs solving, there's no rising action or climax, no real resolution, and the characters don't really go through any personal growth throughout the movie. All of which set it up for an unsatisfying conclusion that would leave you wondering if the cd or file was corrupt/cut off if the credits didn't start rolling to tell you it was over.

Water Lilies [Céline Sciamma, 2007, France] A little bit pretentious and typical. An exploration of sexuality with nothing much else to offer. 6/10

Great performances, deep yet youthful. It's a film that portrays a genuine awkwardness between two friends with detail, colour and serenity. It left me wanting to see more of this story which had been built up so nicely; making the biggest downside the film's lenght. I recommend watching Water Lilies in a lazy summer day afternoon.

Un rythme beaucoup trop lent et une histoire qui perd de l'intérêt au fur et a mesure que les minutes s'écoulent.

Parisian tale of sexual awakening in a teen synchronised swimming team. Just about tows the line to avoid becoming exploitative and is at times quite sweet.

Stylish 'art house' French film of love, desire, and self examination seen through the eyes of teenage girls. No-one else exists in their world but themselves and those they long for. No adults or younger children seem to exist for them. Sad in many ways. Beautiful in many others. Brought back strong emotions from younger days. Great soundtrack.

This is a very engrossing drama about a shy girl who has lesbian feelings for a fellow member of the synchronized swimming club she attends. I would have liked it to be longer as there was much more to explore.

Water lilies should've been named indeed as the original title, "birth of octopuses". Water lilies was just too plain. Good movie, appreciated very much. a lot of people should feel identified. when you grow up you experience things, this film has nothing to do with sexuality identification, or homosexuality. Experimentation defines it at most weather same sex or not this movie has nothing to do with what it portrays therefore this movie is the abstraction of self experimentation.

If I can say nothing else it's that this film is beautiful to watch, even in its most uncomfortable moments. Wonderfully captures that all too hard to describe limbo of growing up. The aesthetics and score of this are fantastic and I couldn't help but remember and miss this phase in my life - even the confusing and sometimes terrible moments that come with it. It's difficult to capture a mood or a life stage well, particularly at this age and Sciamma does it wonderfully. I'm now nostalgic for a time I usually try to forget. Great performance by Pauline Acquart as well - wish she was in other films.

an awesome movie, but that doesn't leave a very suitable end

An intimate look at the sexual awakenings of three young girls as they explore their feelings in both conventional and unconventional ways. There is nothing inordinately lewd here - only a slight bit of nudity - as the subject was handled deftly by the first time director, Celine Sciamma. Pauline Acquart does a tremendous job as the profoundly manipulated Marie; her love of Floriane was palpable.

It's strange and a bit alien to me, being male and all, but it's brave and willing to show the cruelty and harshness of being a young teen whose sexuality is only just developing and the confusion that can come from that. It's a bit dry at times but that adds to it's realism and keeps the serious tone throughout. The acting is strong and it does tug at the heart strings despite it's bizarre and upfront approach which, understandably, frightens some people away. While I certainly can't vouch for it's realism it feels honest and is believable as a result. I certainly felt able to relate without having had similar issues myself so it succeeds there mostly due to the strong performances throughout. it hints on dangers and acts as a warning but there's always a sense that the warning will be ignored after all lust and desires aren't always controllable and this film addresses that while still managing to be relatively sweet in-between the emotionally intense scenes. It's a tough topic to capture honestly and it certainly takes guts to be as upfront with it as this one is but I think it was necessary in this case and I think it paid off. It's not always the most interesting watch but it keeps you attached and allows for an emotional connection with the viewer that may not have been possible if the film felt dishonest or false, which it doesn't.

The film is an odd little French film. It's almost creepy. I can understand the themes running through it of female friendship, love, and such. It showed the trueness of being young and having friends. However, it was still just odd and a little uncomfortable.