Water Lilies – Naissance des pieuvres (2007)

Directed by: Celine Sciamma | 85 minutes | drama | Actors: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère, Adèle Haenel, Warren Jacquin, Christelle Baras, Marie Gili-Pierre, Alice de Lencquesaing, Claire Pierrat, Barbara Renard, Esther Sironneau, Jérémie Steib, Yvonne Villemaire, Christophe Van de Velde, Serge Brincat

With ‘Naissance des pieuvres’, debutante Céline Sciamma knows exactly how to portray the world of fifteen and sixteen-year-old girls. Not an original starting point, but the elaboration of the idea is. Rarely does a film give such a sincere and recognizable picture of the insecurities, desires and dreams of teenagers as this French gem. The desire to fit in, the musing about the first time sex, the actual performance of that first time, the mutual cruelty, the dialogues (which are taught exactly right)… it has become a well-tuned production. Parisian Sciamma, who graduated from La Fémis with the screenplay for this film, took over the directing on the advice of Xavier Beauvois, who was on the examination committee.

Marie is an introverted girl, a late bloomer, whose boyish figure does not yet look as old as the Floriane she admires. The fifteen-year-old Floriane is also seen as the slut of the neighborhood, everyone is convinced that she has already done “it” with a lot of boys and the girl herself does nothing to improve this image, she does at most, already provocative, a little extra. Floriane is the star of the synchronized swimming team. Anne, Marie’s best friend, is a chubby girl, who doesn’t really excel in this sport, nor is she in the market as well as Floriane. She is madly in love with François, but the latter only has eyes for Floriane. Marie manages to befriend Floriane and in the summer that follows, each of these three girls takes a big step towards adulthood. A lot of conversations take place in the changing room of the local swimming pool, but there is even more gossip, whispers and lies.

The intimate mood of the film is enhanced by the sublime aqua tunes of Jean-Baptiste de Laubier (Para One). The fact that the girls participate in synchronized swimming gives cinematographer Crystel Fournier the opportunity to shoot beautiful images, which make the poetic atmosphere even more intense. There is also room for humor, especially in the scenes with Anne, who, for example, has devised a very innovative method of shoplifting. Due to Sciamma’s conscious choice not to allow young people to use mobile telephones and other contemporary techniques such as MP3 players or the internet, ‘Naissance des pieuvres’ has become a timeless document. This is also reflected in the clothing style, the short skirt that Marie wears could just as easily be worn in the seventies as in the present day. Also, the absence of adults in the film is very strong. In this way the viewer stays close to the skin of the three protagonists, without being distracted by parent-child relationships. This also represents the experience of Marie, Anne and Floriane in an excellent way, because when you are fifteen, all that matters is yourself. ‘Naissance des pieuvres’: the literal translation of the French title means Birth of the Octopuses, which refers to the splashing of arms and legs in the water (which thus looks like an octopus). In any case, the birth of a talented filmmaker is a fact.