Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Jordache Wee Screenwriter Céline Sciamma made her first debut as director in this film, opening up various opportunities to explore the storyline and future projects. Pauline Acquart and Louise Blachère shows their efforts grabbing the audiences in full attention.The relationships revolved within a local swimming pool in a Parisian suburb where the local synchronized swimming team practices.The story encounters Marie (Pauline Acquart)and Blonde Floriane (Adele Haenel), both skilled swimmer and athlete with raging hormones. And doing things like many teenagers would do.Naissance des Pieuvres, literally translated means The Birth of Octopi, is described as one of the slipperiest teenage drama.

zetes Emotionally brutal tale of teenage sexual yearnings. Pauline Acquart is a gawky 14 or 15 year old who obsesses over the slightly older, supposedly sexually promiscuous captain of her school's synchronized swimming team (Adele Haenel). Meanwhile, Acquart's tubby best friend (Louise Blanchere) obsesses over a boy, Francois, who is himself trying to bang Haenel. The film sometimes seems just a tiny bit sleazy because it really does focus a lot on these horny teenage girls, and, as it's mostly told from the point of view of Acquart, it sometimes seems obsessed with Haenel's body. But whatever prurient reasons one might have for watching this, it's impossible to deny how deeply it bores into the psyche of Acquart. And, Christ, does she give a fantastic performance. It also has a lot of insight into Haenel's character. You kind of hate her, just because she's so damn manipulative and cruel toward Acquart. She almost immediately recognizes what Acquart wants, as she's so used to getting the same attitude from the men in her life, and she uses it to her advantage. In one particularly painful sequence, she grinds on Acquart on the dance floor, but only because she knows some douchebag guy will find it hot. The two girls are just about to kiss for the first time, and Acquart opens her eyes to find Haenel has backed into the guy behind her and started to grind on him instead. The Blanchere subplot, on the other hand, is somewhat less successful. She's kind of dumb and childish (for what it's worth, Acquart, who has presumably been her friend since they were kids, is starting to feel the same; Blanchere is kind of like a safe place to back off to when her relationship with Haenel gets to be too frustrating). The culmination of her part of the film, though, is pretty satisfying. This is definitely one of the best films I've ever seen about teenagers. Despite the fact that I'm a straight guy, Water Lilies dragged some very painful memories from my own teen years to the surface.

tedg Perhaps the most crowded genre is the "coming of age" drama. It is also, I believe, the most abused. It is hard to do something important, something other than twisting basic experiences we all had.Breillat matters to me because she has guts, Campion because she is a poet. I expect tomorrow to be changed by "Innocence."This is too ordinary to register. Sure the girls are engaging, and the fear of being real enough. But it is just too ordinary.The extra gimmick here is a swimming pool, girl's locker room, trim and not so trim bodies is suits, and the commitment to a synchronized swimming team. The metaphor is just too heavy. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

madcardinal I cheer for films that fill in subject matter gaps in world cinema. So after watching the trailer for "Water Lilies," I expected to like this film because I thought I'd stumbled on something unique: a movie that honestly portrays teen lesbian love - sort of a female version of "Beautiful Thing." The main characters are young French women 15 years old. Marie is slender, reticent and pretty in a tomboyish way; Floriane is outgoing, athletic and beautiful; and Anne is loyal, pudgy and behaviorally immature. The erotic interrelationship between Marie and Floriane is always simmering in this movie, if not at the surface, then just below it. "Water Lilies," however, is not about the dawning of lesbian love upon two teens; it is about sexual frustration, suffering, ennui, teens working at cross-purposes and - in at least two instances - joyless, mechanical sex. It also proves that screenwriters and film-makers mar their own creations when they become too manipulative.In the extra features on the "Lord of the Flies" DVD, director Peter Brook says, "French cynicism starts with the arousal of sex," meaning the French regard children as angels while they regard adolescents and adults with a pervasive cynicism. Part of the downfall of this film is film-maker Celine Sciamma has gulped a mighty dose of this cynicism."Where is the joy?" I asked myself while watching this film. Yes, first love can be painful and frustrating, but it can also be joyful and triumphantly erotic in a fresh, life-affirming way. These positive aspects are missing from this movie; there is no balance.Organically, this movie wants to be a poignant celebration of first love. But Sciamma is too impressed with her own cynicism and cleverness and ruins the film. First, what is the point of showing only the plump girl nude? I know there is an established tradition of tasteful teen nudity in European cinema, as evidenced by films like "The Slingshot; The Rascals; The Devil, Probably; The Little Thief; Murmur of the Heart; Friends; Beau Pere" and "Europa, Europa"; but this instance is a petty authorial intrusion - "See, audience, I can make a film where I show only the unattractive person nude." Either no nudity or evenly distributed nudity would've been an honest way to go.There is a scene in a club where Floriane and Marie are dancing. What follows next is not just Floriane cynically manipulating Marie; it is film-maker Sciamma cynically manipulating her audience.Perhaps the biggest betrayal of authenticity and organic honesty takes place when Floriane warns Marie she's about to request something that is "not normal." Marie understandably asks, "Who cares about being normal?" Then Sciamma plays false with her audience and the hurtling momentum of the movie, because Floriane's request is a phony, derivative and substitute question - not the authentic, heartfelt question the movie, Marie's character and the viewers who've invested their time deserve. Here are also two moments which clank falsely on the viewer's nerves: 1) Since when do the French - of all people - take baths wearing bathing suits, and with a turtle to boot? 2) What teen - of any nationality - would chomp down on an apple core that's been thrown in the garbage in order to get a taste of the beloved's mouth?The three main actresses are promising and, if they find better vehicles for their talents, may become excellent actors. Louise Blachere (Anne) is the best actress in terms of technique and could have a successful career in supporting roles. Adele Haenel (Floriane) could become a leading lady, or a bombshell, or both. Pauline Acquart (Marie) possesses an intensity and magnetism which are unmistakable. In the future, she could play everything from an emotionally crippled librarian to a mysteriously sensual seductress to a reluctant politician riding a meteoric rise in acclaim.All in all, "Water Lilies" was very disappointing. Will an honest film-maker please make an authentic movie about two young women falling in love! No - not necessarily for the sake of this middle-aged guy - but so young lesbian girls can have something of quality they can watch and identify with. And yes, to fill a subject matter gap in world cinema.