This was also posted recently to Usenet, in alt.binaries.movies.french.
Looks interesting, I am waiting for English subs. They must exist, this movie played recently in the UK (might still be) and in Australia.
A couple of interesting reviews I ran across:
http://melbfilmblog.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... val-3.html
Water Lilies is intelligent film and has what the recent raft of Australian coming-of-age stories lack: an underlying realism. It seems aimed more at an adult audience and I wonder how a teenage audience would respond to it. Or whether it found a teenage audience in France.
The story revolves around a petite 15-year old, Marie (Pauline Acquart). It involves her friend, Anne (Louise Blachère), a member of a synchronised swimming team, and the captain of the team, Floriane (Adele Haenel). The film is basically a depiction of teenage exploration of sexuality and identity, friendship and love. There are some parallels with American Beauty, though that film could never have gotten away with the teenage nudity in this film. But it's not as gritty as say, a Larry Clark film. Of some note, this film is directed by a woman, Céline Sciamma.
The film completely dispenses with parents, a device of convenience, I suspect, to avoid complicating the film with other issues. The focus is clearly on Marie, her friends and their sexuality and friendship. The cinematography is beautiful and the combination of that and the music remind me of someone I can't recall. It's not unlike Van Sant's recent films in some respects but vastly different in others.
The three main characters were all convincing and the story is well-written. It's another example of a small story that the French are often so good at.
http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/films/ ... page_id=27
Water Lilies is hands down the best synchronised swimming, teenage lesbian flick of 2008 (so far) but I suspect the praise lavished on this otherwise unremarkable little French coming-of-ager has more to do with firm, wet limbs than anything else.
Admittedly, the internal turmoils of budding adolescence are sensitively refracted through its three convincing female leads: the manipulative team hottie with a slaggy reputation; the flat-chested, self-contained tomboy who confusedly loves her; and said flat-chested girl's tubby best friend, who's desperate to cop off with boys (here largely absent).
Softcore Mini Pops moments aside, the charged, languid atmosphere heaves with more mournful longing than 'action' – as is traditional in lesbian dramas.
At least debut director Céline Sciamma is just as keen to focus on what's going on beneath the swimsuits. And no, not (just) like that.