About

The first instalment in Céline Sciamma’s coming-of-age trilogy, Water Lilies is an agonising story of teenage love, sexuality and desire.

Set around a provincial swimming pool in a Northern Paris suburb, the film tells the story of Marie (Pauline Acquart), a young girl desperate to join the local synchronised swimming team to be close to her secret crush ̶ and star of the team Floriane (Adèle Haenel). As Marie’s infatuation for Floriane intensifies, she finds herself at the bequest of Floriane’s every whim creating a complex relationship – one which strains Marie’s relationship with her best friend Anne (Louise Blachère).

Written by Sciamma during her training at the La Fémis Film School in Paris, Water Lilies captures the angst and confusion of teenage love and sexuality, the fragile intimacy conveyed beautifully by a talented, though largely inexperienced, young cast.