POLITE APPLAUSEWater Lilies: Drama. Starring Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachere and Adele Haenel. Directed by Celine Sciamma. (Not rated. 85 minutes. In French with English titles. At Bay Area theaters. For complete movie listings and show times, and to buy tickets for select theaters, go to sfgate.com/movies.)

This French movie, about teenage girls first discovering powerful sexual feelings, is being released in the United States under the unfortunate and misleading title "Water Lilies." The treatment of these girls is anything but corny, but the title is, and it's enough to distort the experience of the film. Knowing the original French title at least helps. It's "Naissance des Pieuvres." In English: "The Birth of the Octopuses."

Now think about that. Imagine you have two movies about blossoming female sexuality. One is called "Water Lilies" and the other is called "The Birth of the Octopuses." Which one would you go see? The one that just floats there or the one with eight arms? One of these days, somebody somewhere will figure out how to distribute foreign films in the United States, and maybe then these movies might start making money.

The picture plays, at first, as a series of incidents in the life of young Marie (Pauline Acquart), a 15-year-old girl. She has a friend, Anne (Louise Blachere), who is interested in swimming, and Marie becomes interested in swimming as well. Because she can't officially come to swim practices until she is a member of the team, she makes friends with Floriane (Adele Haenel), who gets her into swim practice every afternoon.

Watching "Water Lilies" is a little like being a parent and having no idea what's going on with kids these days. If you're not paying attention - if you've been lulled by the title into expecting a placid little film about youth and friendship - you might not notice the roiling emotion underneath the seemingly tranquil surface of things. You could easily think this is simply the story of a girl who really, really wants to be on a synchronized swim team.

If Marie is at the center of "Water Lilies," Floriane is the center of everyone's focus within the movie. Though a teenager, she has the body of a woman, the gravity of an adult and a face that, in some lights, looks as though she's about 30. Known as the loose woman of the swim team, she is both cold and flirtatious, and she treats Marie, at least for a while, as little better than a minion. In exchange for getting Marie into swim practice, Floriane demands that Marie serve as her decoy. Floriane uses Marie as a cover so that she can see her boyfriends.

But everything in "Water Lilies" is more guarded, more complex and far more interesting than it seems. There are two ways to enjoy this movie. One way is to focus on surface externals and then look back, at the finish, to realize that big emotional movements have been going on all along. And the other is to pay close attention and appreciate the subtlety and respect with which director Celine Sciamma treats her characters throughout.

"Water Lilies" - or rather, "The Birth of the Octopuses" - is the first feature film by Sciamma, who was only 26 when she made it, a good age from which to look back on the teenage experience, before the calcification that comes with distance, sentimentality and nostalgia. Her point of view is fresh, and her control is mature. That's a strong combination.

-- Advisory: Frontal nudity, sexual situations.