water lily be a well make first film from france about young female sexuality and friendship . sciamma work with specialized and slightly sanitize material that be a off put to some a it be allure to others . the film focus exclusively on three middle class teenage girl in a tidy new paris suburb . their life revolve around a big indoor swim pool where two of the three be part of a synchronized water ballet team . such distraction a parent and sibling and work and school have be neatly excise from the equation . the central sensibility belongs to the attractively sullen but skinny marie ( pauline acquart ) and who be not on the team and but think she would like to be . marie worship floriane ( adèle haenel ) and an alluring blonde and team standout whom the boy be after . this take marie away from her former best friend and also a member of the water ballet team and the somewhat plump anne ( louise blachère ) . be less special anne be more truly accessible to the boy . floriane and like this film and promise a bit more then she truly offer . marie have the more essential quality for a teenage girl represent she suffer inwardly . flroiane doesn not so much suffer a jump into situation and then bolt . marie be dazzle by the glamor of the water ballet as well a floriane . floriane take advantage of this to make marie first her slave and a cover for her assignation and then and lack any other friend and her confidante . all the other girl think floriane a slut and an illusion she encourage in the men and boys she tease and because it lead them on . she suffer the pretty girl fate of be not a person but an object and and she can not resist the validation the boy give her by want to kiss her and bed her and but she doesn not really care about any of them and know her involvement with them be a trap . enlist marie to act a her pal so her ( unseen ) mother would not know she go out to meet boy and she also get marie to rescue her from the boy later . it look the opposite at first and but floriane need marie as much a marie think she need her . anne be leave with her discomfort with her body and a desire to get lay that earthy and more real than the other girl . keep all external context at bay and sciamma can highlight subtle shift in the delicate equation of the three girl goal and interaction . on the other hand the film water madness and which include lot of shower and spit as well a underwater swim shot and make it feel completely airless at time and some of it 95 minute do not pass so quickly . luckily the film have a sense of humor and let the trio sometimes forget their ever present goal and avoidance and just do silly and pointless girl thing . it the offbeat moment that give the film life while too bad in a way that there aren not more of them . but sciamma have the courage of her obsession and what remain a one walk out of the theater be the personality and their dynamic . along the way of course it be pleasant to watch the swimming and to gaze at the girl and who understandably love to gaze at themselves . there no great revelation or drama on the way and but thing get a bit more interesting when it emerge that marie doesn not just admire but truly desire floriane and be jealous of her boyfriend whom floriane always stop before they go all the way . in a typical irony of this kind of plot and floriane actually decide she want to have her first real sex with marie but marie be the one who hold off and because she know it would not have the significance to floriane that it will have to her . when it happen and it a timid and mechanical affair . meanwhile anne have a huge crush on francois ( warren jacquin ) and a male swimmer and but of course he be after floriane . boy be not an element that be subtract and there always seem to be several dozen ready at poolside or on the dance floor and but they be just body and face and available stud .