Too many fans seem to be blown away

The Worst Film Ever

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

If you were looking for some kind of voyeuristic, sexy, lesbian teen drama...zip up your pants because this isn't it. Or (for whatever reason) you were looking for a synchronized swimming movie, this isn't it either.The plot is a familiar one: 3 very different teenage girls in a French suburb deal with their sexuality and the loss of innocence. I thought it was a brilliant touch to not include any parents or adults in this movie. There's no "unique" way to approach the subject matter because anyone who has ever been a teenager has lived through this movie...all the uncertainty, the awkwardness, the naivety, the myths of growing up. The whole point of a coming-of-age film is that its a predictable cliché...because that's exactly what adolescence is.There's no unpretentious way to say this: Naissance des Pieuvres isn't a movie at all, it's a film. And a beautiful one, at that. There's this looseness about the way the movie rolls that feels so natural...it's what all coming-of-age films should be like. Another reviewer here mentioned that it had a very Sofia Coppola feel and that's exactly right. That feeling of dreamy teenage idleness is persistent and strangely keeps the film together. There are few movies that make you feel like floating and sinking at the same time. Water Lilies did it for me. Every scene and every sound (the soundtrack is BRILLIANT) in this film was so deliberate and so beautifully acted.If absolutely nothing convinces you, at least watch the last 5 minutes of this movie. I've replayed it at least a dozen times and I don't completely understand why. It's hypnotic and arguably one of the best movie endings of modern film.9/10.

I don't usually write reviews but I felt the need to point out that through out this movie I kept murmuring: "This isn't right", "No!", "Why?", and many things along this line. I'm not trying to imply that this was a bad movie but if you are an American, don't expect this to be something Universal Studios would film. With every next scene I would think: How can they film this? But that may be my American mind. I'll give it a neutral 5 rate, since I'm still unsure how I feel about it.

I put off watching 'Water Lilies' because its billing made me feel that this would be a film about (yawn) synchronised swimming: in fact, it's about three teenage girls exploring their sexuality, only one of whom is a swimmer, and that fact is of marginal importance in the story. I like the way it shows the girls as keen to experiment but inside, unaware of what it is they want: and it captures nicely the "hanging-roundness" quality of teenage existence, with nothing to do except pretend that you fit in. Yet even though it is well acted and observed, 'Water Lilies' didn't move me that deeply. Perhaps it's the tripartite viewpoint that reduces empathy with any one character; I would also have liked to see a little more of their lives, away from their journeys of sexual exploration. But it's still a nice film, although a slight one.

As ever the English title misses entirely the dark humour of the original, Naissance des pieuvres (Birth of the octopi). This was a typically French film about burgeoning sexuality in three fifteen year old girls living in a new town just outside Paris. One of the girls has not yet developed so is not yet boy bait; another finds her puppy fat puts boys off, and the third is very attractive and has an undeserved "reputation" which she enjoys but can't handle. The story is told against the backdrop of a synchronised swimming club (no under-arm hair allowed) of which the attractive one is captain. The first girl is friends with the second one, but is beginning to find her boring and is attracted to the captain. At first the captain doesn't want to be bothered, but then becomes friendly, using the girl as a lookout for her assignations which are more innocent than they look. The captain is going around with the swimming club hot boy, after whom "puppy fat" lusts. In this adolescent hothouse, the captain tries and fails to lose her virginity, the hot boy left hot, seeks solace with No Two who is more than happy to oblige, while the first girl is left rather confused. End of story. It was a quiet, understated but intense film about real people, with the underwater shots in the civic swimming pool intended to convey the suppressed emotions of the principal characters. Interestingly, there were almost no adults in the film: the girls are all presumably from stable, middle class homes with caring parents, so there is no need to show them.Some American reviewers have complained that the film is only for those who like to watch pubescent girls in skimpy swimming costumes. Whilst that is a plus point of the film, the comment completely overlooks what is probably not too bad a take on life in les banlieues. It certainly seemed more realistic (and was much better presented) than Thirteen.