Water Lilies (French: Naissance des pieuvres) is Céline Sciamma’s quietly devastating debut: a summer-set portrait of three 15-year-old girls orbiting a synchronized-swimming team, where first love, jealousy, and self-image ferment under the surface. With no adults steering the frame and almost no time stamps, the film feels suspended—like a held breath above the pool—while desire and insecurity churn below. It’s one of the essential French lesbian coming-of-age films and an early statement of Sciamma’s now-signature intimacy and clarity.
Marie, slight and watchful, becomes transfixed by Floriane, the glamorous captain of the local synchronized-swimming team. Rumors paint Floriane as experienced and manipulative; up close, Marie discovers someone carefully maintaining a mask to survive the gaze of others. Marie’s best friend Anne battles her own heartbreak, nursing a crush on Floriane’s boyfriend François and spiraling between self-doubt and bravado.
Sciamma builds the triangle through repetition—locker rooms, buses, the pool’s echo—until small favors become emotional leverage. Floriane enlists Marie as a confidante and decoy; Marie mistakes proximity for reciprocity; Anne clings to rituals (prayers, buried underwear, “good-luck” gestures) to will a romance into being. By summer’s end, each girl learns the difference between wanting to be wanted and being loved.
Water Lilies Cast
Charactor
A keen observer whose devotion to Floriane edges into self-negation.
Pauline Acquart
Pauline Acquart brings naturalistic restraint; her silences carry the film’s ache.
Golden, admired, and terrified of being unmasked; performs confidence to keep control.
Adèle Haenel
Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) layers shine over vulnerability, making Floriane both object and author of desire.
Funny, pious, and stubbornly hopeful; the “best friend” who earns the film’s fiercest courage.
Louise Blachère
Louise Blachère’s arc—hope → humiliation → self-respect—is the film’s quiet triumph.
Director
Céline Sciamma
Sciamma frames adolescence from the inside: no moralizing adults, no tidy labels—just the politics of bodies and the choreography of longing. The synchronized-swimming motif is the perfect metaphor for her cinema: serenity on top, labor and panic beneath.
BEST SCENES
📍 The medal & the promise: Floriane “rewards” Marie with a token after using her as cover—affection and exploitation entwined.
📍 The missed kiss: In a nightclub, Marie braces for a moment that slides away as Floriane turns to dance with a boy—cruel, familiar.
📍 “See? It’s not that hard.” A locker-room kiss offered as comfort/tutorial, not confession—devastating in its casualness, and the film’s thesis about mixed signals.
📍 The pool finale: Marie and Anne floating side by side—summer over, illusions shed, a quiet rite of passage.
Water Lilies Review
Review
⭐ Story (4.5/5)
A spare narrative that resists melodrama. The script captures the micro-transactions of teen intimacy—glances, errands, “little tests”—and shows how first desire can blur into self-erasure.
⭐ Acting (4.5/5)
Pauline Acquart’s inwardness makes Marie painfully real; Adèle Haenel threads bravado with fear as Floriane; Louise Blachère gives Anne a heartbreaking mix of humor, hope, and dignity.
⭐ Chemistry (4.3/5)
The film thrives on charged near-moments: a breath held in a doorway, a “practice” kiss offered as reassurance. It’s tender, humiliating, and electric—exactly how early crushes feel.
⭐ Production (4.3/5)
Muted palettes, close sound design (water, fabric, soap, breath), and the choreographic language of synchronized swimming turn the pool into a metaphor: elegance above the surface, frantic kicking below.
⭐ Ending (4.2/5)
No grand confession—just recognition. Two girls float on their backs after a party, grief and calm mingled. It’s small, true, and unforgettable.
💬 My Take
What stings isn’t rejection—it’s being “helped” when you wanted to be chosen. Water Lilies understands that first love often arrives as misread homework: errands mistaken for intimacy, practice kisses mistaken for revelation. Sciamma refuses to punish anyone; even Floriane’s cruelty is survival. By the time two girls float under the gym lights, they’re not innocent anymore—but they’re more themselves. For a French lesbian coming-of-age film, it’s as intimate and honest as they come.
Water Lilies Information
🎖 Awards & Recognition
60th Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard (Nomination)
César Awards – Nominations: Best First Film; Most Promising Actress (newcomer)