i don't think i can say anything particularly intelligent about this, but i really really liked it. there was a lot of the camera staring at pauline acquart's face--deservedly so; she was amazing.
it's just me--i admit, it's just me, but i like dialogue. i remember dialogue fondly. now, water lilies, unlike, say, the last airbender, really pulls off its lack of dialogue--i felt like water lilies does what it does so well that there's almost no need to criticize. but there is a bit of a...well, not need, of course, but desire to do so. i don't love the ending, because i feel like the overall silence of the film doesn't establish the two best friends' friendship fully enough to make the final image have the meaning it needs to to end such a good film in a fulfilling way, or even a satisfyingly un-fulfilling way.
but it's a pretty wonderful movie. i always get caught up in objections such as, "okay, you captured the heck out of the atmosphere that you're attempting to capture, film-that's-not-water lilies (for example, harry potter 6)--but why the heck do we care? YES, there's an atmosphere! YES, we can practically breathe it in! NO, an atmosphere doesn't do everything to insure yourself a meaningful movie! man cannot live by an atmosphere alone!" (though, to be fair, he can't live without it, either.) i do not have these objections about water lilies. i was like, "YES, there's an atmosphere! and the atmosphere is YES!! well done, atmosphere! i really feel like you're showing me something not just beautiful, but beautifully germane to the movie."
all the focusing on pauline acquart's face is kind of an example of this. to me, it exemplifies the feeling of claustrophobia that i remember from being fifteen--the necessity, and the intense pressure, of knowing exactly where your hands and feet are and what your face is expressing, and the inability to know, really, anything beyond said pressure. the world may be beautiful; it's also intensely outside one. that was why the whole thing with eating the garbage apple was so wonderfully illustrative (just an example out of a whole movie's worth of wonderfully illustrative moments): pauline acquart character is trying to make a connection (and pauline acquart does this beautifully, like she does the whole thing beautifully--the other actresses are also really wonderful, but the movie's about the pauline acquart character, so the whole thing rides on her, and she really carries it)... anyway, i feel like the water lilies atmosphere contributed to its storyline, as opposed to either standing in for said storyline, or floating alongside said storyline.
one might argue that the atmosphere was the storyline. i guess i wouldn't object to that reading of the film. but if so, the atmosphere was an actual story, with characters and wild nights* dynamics, as opposed to a series of "profound" metaphors or a cover for pointlessness.
so, yay. thank you, water lilies. for proving to me that i can like somewhat serious films...sometimes...provided they're about teenage lesbians (i know, i know, it's not actually a lesbian film).
*i keep using this phrase--just in case one hasn't heard the poem, it goes thusly:
"Wild Nights--Wild Nights!
Were I with Thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile--the Winds--
To a Heart in port--
Done with the Compass--
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden--
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor--Tonight--
In Thee!"
ah, emily dickinson. that's why i love the idea, and her. the reason i can remember the line (totally different proposition, of course) is because of a parody i couldn't help writing when i forgot the rest of the poem:
"Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
Let me Come In!--
Not--by the Hair--
On my Chinny Chin Chin!"
the more you know.
it's just me--i admit, it's just me, but i like dialogue. i remember dialogue fondly. now, water lilies, unlike, say, the last airbender, really pulls off its lack of dialogue--i felt like water lilies does what it does so well that there's almost no need to criticize. but there is a bit of a...well, not need, of course, but desire to do so. i don't love the ending, because i feel like the overall silence of the film doesn't establish the two best friends' friendship fully enough to make the final image have the meaning it needs to to end such a good film in a fulfilling way, or even a satisfyingly un-fulfilling way.
but it's a pretty wonderful movie. i always get caught up in objections such as, "okay, you captured the heck out of the atmosphere that you're attempting to capture, film-that's-not-water lilies (for example, harry potter 6)--but why the heck do we care? YES, there's an atmosphere! YES, we can practically breathe it in! NO, an atmosphere doesn't do everything to insure yourself a meaningful movie! man cannot live by an atmosphere alone!" (though, to be fair, he can't live without it, either.) i do not have these objections about water lilies. i was like, "YES, there's an atmosphere! and the atmosphere is YES!! well done, atmosphere! i really feel like you're showing me something not just beautiful, but beautifully germane to the movie."
all the focusing on pauline acquart's face is kind of an example of this. to me, it exemplifies the feeling of claustrophobia that i remember from being fifteen--the necessity, and the intense pressure, of knowing exactly where your hands and feet are and what your face is expressing, and the inability to know, really, anything beyond said pressure. the world may be beautiful; it's also intensely outside one. that was why the whole thing with eating the garbage apple was so wonderfully illustrative (just an example out of a whole movie's worth of wonderfully illustrative moments): pauline acquart character is trying to make a connection (and pauline acquart does this beautifully, like she does the whole thing beautifully--the other actresses are also really wonderful, but the movie's about the pauline acquart character, so the whole thing rides on her, and she really carries it)... anyway, i feel like the water lilies atmosphere contributed to its storyline, as opposed to either standing in for said storyline, or floating alongside said storyline.
one might argue that the atmosphere was the storyline. i guess i wouldn't object to that reading of the film. but if so, the atmosphere was an actual story, with characters and wild nights* dynamics, as opposed to a series of "profound" metaphors or a cover for pointlessness.
so, yay. thank you, water lilies. for proving to me that i can like somewhat serious films...sometimes...provided they're about teenage lesbians (i know, i know, it's not actually a lesbian film).
*i keep using this phrase--just in case one hasn't heard the poem, it goes thusly:
"Wild Nights--Wild Nights!
Were I with Thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile--the Winds--
To a Heart in port--
Done with the Compass--
Done with the Chart!
Rowing in Eden--
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor--Tonight--
In Thee!"
ah, emily dickinson. that's why i love the idea, and her. the reason i can remember the line (totally different proposition, of course) is because of a parody i couldn't help writing when i forgot the rest of the poem:
"Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
Let me Come In!--
Not--by the Hair--
On my Chinny Chin Chin!"
the more you know.
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