Water Lilies (2007)

Céline Sciamma’s directorial debut Water Lilies (2007) follows three teenage girls as they begin to understand their sexuality and, thereby, their place in the world. A gentle coming of age story, Water Lilies takes its time in exploring what it’s like to be a young girl trying to make sense of her sexuality in a heteronormative world.

The three girls, Marie (Pauline Acquart), Anne (Louise Blachère) and Floriane (Adèle Haenel) each undergo their individual — and sometimes overlapping — journey of self-discovery, particularly in relation to their sexuality. Marie, a quiet and unassuming girl, shows up to synchronized swim practice one day in support of Anne, her closest friend. While there, she meets Floriane and quickly develops an attraction to the other girl. A friendship eventually blossoms from this, driving a bridge between Marie and Anne, the latter of who thinks that Floraine is trouble. A love triangle of sorts grows between these girls, complicated by François, Floriane’s boyfriend who Anne is also attracted to.

Though all relationships in the film hold weight, the most compelling one is that between Marie and Floriane, whose friendship slowly begins to deepen into something more. Though, Floriane ultimately rejects Marie. Sciamma uses the connection between these two to tell a nuanced and intelligent story of first love and attraction, and what exactly that looks like as a lesbian.

Marie’s attraction to Floriane is believable and, though misguided, feels genuine. Floriane’s attraction to Marie is a bit trickier — though she toys with the idea, Floriane never fully comes into her sexuality in the way that Marie does. Floriane feels pressured into having sex with her boyfriend so that she can lose her virginity and do what she believes she’s supposed to want. On the journey of preparing for this moment, Floriane goes as far as asking Marie to be her first time, which eventually doesn’t pan out. Still, this moment between them is filled with caution and nervousness, and clearly expresses how both girls are struggling to understand their attraction to women when they are being relentlessly pushed into wanting men.

When the two finally kiss towards the end of the film, Sciamma pulls the audience back into reality — this love between them is first love, and, though important to them each, is not something that was ever built to last. Sciamma takes this relationship and portrays it realistically, and the way the two girls get caught up in one another feels like a genuine first love — or, first infatuation. Marie’s story is particularly poignant, and the film rests on her relationships with both Anne and Floriane.