Naissance Des Pieuvres - Water Lilies

Water Lilies is an intense study of female friendship, sexual awakening and… synchronised swimming. This beautiful debut by director and Screenwriter Céline Sciamma was a big hit at Cannes this year and has been making waves ever since.

It's summer in the suburbs, and the town's swimming pool is the centre of attention. The local synchronised swimming team is doing well, and competition for places is fierce. The timid Marie forms the link between the spontaneous and chubby Anne and the artful, stunningly attractive Floriane, who has to bear the pressure of her special beauty at a very early age. Their friendship comes into question when various sexual tensions enter their naive existence.

The film reveals the secretive world of their locker rooms, from a memorable conversation about the ultimate significance of ceilings, to a novel technique for shoplifting, to a game that involves storing water in one's cheeks.

The girls play emotional chess as they make their moves, hoping to get what they think they want although their desires are as new as they are incessant. Sciamma's vision on sexual rituals is as profound as it is rare on screen. The film has a shimmering, haunted quality that recalls The Virgin Suicides, and marks out Sciamma as a talent to watch out for.