Water Lilies 2007 Movie Review

『The Light and Shadow of Uncertain First Love, Between Desire and Denial in Adolescence』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Water Lilies (Naissance des Pieuvres, 2007)
🌍 Country: 🇫🇷 France
🎞️ Genre: Queer Coming-of-Age Drama / Adolescent Psychological Drama
🗓️ Production & Release: French Independent Production, 105 minutes runtime
📢 Director: Céline Sciamma
📺 Platform: Limited streaming and DVD distribution

👩‍💼 Cast: Pauline Acquart – Marie
Adèle Haenel – Floriane
Louise Blachère – Anne

🧩 In-Depth Story Exploration (Spoilers)

🌊 Director Céline Sciamma’s Feature Debut

Water Lilies premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and has been praised as a masterpiece that delicately and insightfully depicts teenage girls’ sexual awakening and inner conflicts. The original French title, Naissance des Pieuvres, literally meaning “Birth of the Octopuses,” symbolizes the tangled emotions of jealousy and desire.

💧 Marie

The quiet and introverted protagonist. She becomes intensely captivated by Floriane, the captain of the synchronized swimming team, and this infatuation becomes the central axis of her journey of self-discovery.

🌀 Floriane

Beautiful and enigmatic, she is plagued by rumors within the team that label her as “promiscuous.” Through her relationship with her boyfriend François, she tries to validate her sexual worth, but in reality, she is confused and fearful about sexuality itself.

The film interweaves Marie’s infatuation with Floriane and Anne’s desire for François, forming a complex triangle of friendship, jealousy, and adolescent longing among the three girls.

🦋 Emotional Resonance and Thematic Meaning

🎥 Sexual Awakening and the Queer Gaze

The most important virtue of Water Lilies is its deliberate rejection of the Male Gaze, instead portraying the desires and sexual curiosity of teenage girls through a queer/lesbian gaze.

• Subject of Desire: Marie’s feelings for Floriane are depicted not as part of a grand narrative of “coming out” but as pure fascination and fervent admiration. She even goes so far as to look through Floriane’s discarded belongings, desperate to be closer to her. This process of observation and fetishization captures the obsessive intensity of first love in adolescence.
• Inner Conflict: Floriane is pressured to perform the role of a “mature woman” through heterosexual relationships. Her reputation as a “promiscuous girl” is actually a defense mechanism against her repressed identity. What she seeks from Marie may, in fact, be a form of safe intimacy outside of societal role-play.

🌈 The Symbolism of Synchronized Swimming

Synchronized swimming functions as more than just the film’s backdrop—it serves as a potent symbol.

• Surface vs. Depth: On the surface, synchronized swimming is elegant and flawless, yet beneath the water lies desperate struggling for breath and intense labor. This reflects the “perfect femininity” teenage girls are expected to perform publicly, while hiding anxieties, confusion, and self-loathing beneath.
• Group vs. Individual: Athletes must move together as a team, but each girl endures her own struggles in isolation beneath the water. Likewise, while the three girls appear “together,” their sexual turmoil plays out in personal solitude.

📚 Floriane’s Love, Fear, and Identity

The fact that Floriane avoided sexual intercourse with François even after attempting a “fake sexual encounter” with Marie means her behavior cannot be reduced merely to achieving the goal of “passing the heterosexual milestone.” Instead, it strongly suggests that either a genuine emotional connection to Marie or a fundamental rejection of heterosexuality played a role.

1. A Fundamental Rejection of Heteronormative Performance

One of the strongest interpretations is that Floriane felt deep resistance toward performing the role of “the promiscuous girl” and fulfilling heterosexual obligations.

• Social Pressure and Inner Distance: Floriane uses her attractiveness to maintain popularity and sustains her “promiscuous” reputation as a shield against jealousy and judgment. Yet this does not reflect her true desires. She craves male attention but instinctively resists the actual act of sex expected of her.
• Failure with François: The fact that Floriane did not consummate her relationship with François, even after her experience with Marie, shows that the perceived “need” to pass through this heterosexual “rite of passage” was not enough to overcome her innate discomfort or rejection of intimacy with men. Her body and mind resisted the heterosexual expectation.

2. Realization of Suppressed Feelings for Marie (or Vicarious Fulfillment)

Although Floriane’s use of Marie may seem selfish, the act itself could have been an expression of her suppressed emotions for Marie.

• Safe Intimacy: Floriane confided in Marie about her secret (virginity) and sought her help in her most vulnerable moment. This shows that Floriane saw Marie as the only safe space where she could share her identity and fears. From Marie, she may have sought intimacy and protection free of sexual expectation.
• A Test of the Heart: The act of having her “first experience” with Marie—though perhaps imposed—may have been, for Floriane, a deep emotional connection unattainable in a heterosexual relationship. Through this, she may have unconsciously realized that what she truly desired was not sex with François, but emotional and possibly sexual connection with someone like Marie. This explains why she did not pursue things further with François.

In conclusion, Floriane’s avoidance of heterosexual intimacy reflects both her confusion about her own sexual identity and her rejection of imposed heterosexual obligations. This “failure” ultimately becomes a crucial turning point for Marie, allowing her to discover her true desires and find relief from the pain of unrequited love.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★★