Water Lilies(Naissance des pieuvres)

New York Daily News by

With no adults to add melodrama, the sweet Water Lilies depends on the emotion in its young performers' faces to move forward.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

Dismissed in some quarters as trash because it depicts a sexual act (of sorts) between two teenage girls, Water Lilies struck me instead as a hypnotic and wholly convincing look at teen culture from the inside, with all its courage, cruelty and unspoken codes of silence intact.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

The elegant Water Lilies is not about answers but about discovery of self and of others in all its pain and pleasure.

Variety by Lisa Nesselson

The painfully spot-on essence of teen angst meets the spirit of Esther Williams in Water Lilies. First film by gifted scripter-helmer Celine Sciamma nails the aching doubts and offhanded cruelty of 15- and 16-year-old girls.

New York Post by Lou Lumenick

Though Water Lilies endlessly teases the audience with its sapphic subtext and young female flesh, Sciamma seems most interested in showing how extremely cruel adolescent girls can be to each other.

TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh

Though the material is familiar, Sciamma has a light touch and avoids many teen-movie cliches.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

Water Lilies is a nice, watchable, attractive, minor work. What it lacks is a sense of purpose, a commitment not just to its characters but also to its own reason for being.

San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle

Everything in Water Lilies is more guarded, more complex and far more interesting than it seems.

The Hollywood Reporter by Richard James Havis

Although a little too open-ended to be wholly satisfying, Water Lilies is still an excellent directorial debut.