Naissance des pieuvres

Céline Sciamma wrote the screenplay herself for Water Lilies during her training at the Paris Fémis Film School and became increasingly convinced that she really had to film her own script. It’s possible that the intimate intensity to be found in almost every scene of the film partly results from that fortunate choice. In any case, she was able to use three very talented, though largely inexperienced young actresses who convincingly portray the emotional instability and both predictable and inimitable world of three girls as their sexuality blossoms.
Water Lilies is a stylised and very balanced yet nevertheless no less realistic analysis of the desires and sacrifices that accompany the first pangs of lust and the uncertain emergence of young femininity. Sciamma’s protagonist, the still timid Marie, forms the link between the spontaneous yet slightly impetuous and chubby Floriane and the artful, stunningly attractive Anne, who has to bear the pressure of her special beauty at a very early age. Marie is friends with the first and in love with the second.
Parents are absent in the film, boys only form the backdrop. This rigorous focus means that the vulnerable age at which the girls find themselves acquires personal depth from three different female perspectives. Surprising turns in the story ensure character profiles without clichés.

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