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Those who think that Water Lilies will help them better understand the feminine mind will be disappointed as Ms. Sciamma paints the portrait of teenage girls filled with confusion. Whether they are outcast or guy-magnets, these girls are torn between their primal desires, their own identity and their public image, with the loss of virginity as the elephant in the room. As if their hormonal transformation weren't enough, they develop boundaries, where the fine line between friendship and love gets increasingly blurry. To reflect the mutation of her characters, Ms. Sciamma uses the pool and water as a placenta symbolizing the new birth of a girl as a woman. Rather than trying to explain her characters through abundant girly chit-chats, she lets her camera roll, following the girls in silence, opting for a contemplative approach that culminates in a beautiful final sequence. Not afraid to show the unglamorous sides of these girls, whether it's their mind or their body, Ms. Sciamma flirts with cinema-vérité, her poetic and intellectualized inclination bringing her close to filmmakers such as Bruno Dumont (Flandres, 29 Palms). As for men, they are relegated to the background, teenage boys and older guys shown from a distance as sexually fueled objects stripped of any emotion; not a cartoonish representation but rather from the vantage point of teenage girls who can attract lust from men of any age. Viewed from America, the film also takes another dimension, with its depiction of the teenage microcosm showing more restrained behaviors where values still allow desires to be controlled. Not that I'm implying that French kids are more innocent, as France is known for its sexual freedom, but compare Water Lilies to realistic American counterparts — Larry Clark's filmography is a good start — and you will see the difference. When the end comes, Water Lilies comes back full circle, making the story we've seen look like a simple interlude in the girls' lives. There is no outcome to the journey, just a series of try-outs and mistakes, nor is there a moral lesson, as Water Lilies delivers a simple and realistic message: whatever mistakes or choices these girls make, these are necessary steps in the much longer journey to help them find their own identity as women.
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