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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/03/2011:

One boring summer in Paris is the backdrop for “Water Lilies” (Koch Lorber). Three 15 year old girls, Marie, Anne, and Floriane cross paths at the local pool and love and desire change their lives forever.
“Water Lilies” gets off to a slow start but it pulls the viewer in as he watches three girls discover their sexuality. It is a memory film in that it causes one to remember back when life was simple and sexuality was new. We see the confusion and insecurities that the girls feel and the wonderful music adds to the nostalgia.
The three girls find themselves in a three-way relationship and the triangle that they construct seems to be missing a solid base. Marie, serious and a bit of a tomboy is in the middle. On one side of her is her best friend and her physical and psychological opposite. She is chubby and because of this boys pay her no mind. On the other side of Marie is the beautiful blonde, a synchronized swimmer, intent on competition. Marie is able to enter her life by using the excuse that she wants to join the swim group.
During the first half of the film we see a good deal of synchronized swimming and begin to learn about the girls and as the story leaves the swimming we watch as the unexpected begins to happen. Obviously there is a purpose to the swimming of which there is a great deal. It is a sport for women only and serves as a metaphor for a girl’s life. On the surface it is feminine and beautiful but beneath it is competitive. It is a life of juggling many different things at the same time.
The basic theme of first sexual emotions runs throughout and the performances are excellent. The subject is not new but it is treated in a new way. There is no great revelation and everything is more or less as expected after the initial realization that the three are to become romantically involved.