''Girls Can't Swim'' (french: Les Filles ne savent pas nager) is a 2000

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

. The film had its world premiere at the 2000

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (WFF; french: le Festival des Films du Monde) was one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF (although the Toronto Internat ...

and was released in France on 18 October of that year. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on 19 April 2002.

Plot

Gwen is a teenager living in a coastal town in Brittany; Lise is her city-living best friend. They meet up each summer as Lise's family visits. This year's visit is different though - Lise is dealing with her distant father's death, and Gwen has become promiscuous with boys, which threatens to affect the girls' friendship.

Cast

Isild Le Besco Isild Le Besco (born 22 November 1982) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is of French and Algerian descent on her mother's side, and Vietnamese and Breton on her father's. She has starred in many films, including ''Sade'' (2000), a French ...

as Gwen * Karen Alyx as Lise *

Pascale Bussières Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a French Canadian actress. Life and work Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Pascale Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in Micheline Lanctôt’s 1984 film '' Sonatine''; however ...

as Céline *

Pascal Elso Pascal Elso is a French actor. Life He is actor, comedian, director and acting teacher on several cinema school. He had been choreographer, clown, mime Filmography Theater References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elso, Pasca ...

as Alain *

Marie Rivière Marie Rivière (; born 22 December 1956) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is known for her collaborations with director Éric Rohmer. From a working-class background, Marie Rivière grew up on a housing estate/project in Montreuil before ...

as Anne-Marie * Yelda Reynaud as Solange *

Sandrine Blancke Sandrine Blancke (born 6 November 1978) is a Belgium French actress. She started her acting career as a child actor at the age of 13 in the 1991 film ''Toto le héros''. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 1st Magritte Awards. ...

as Vivianne * Julien Cottereau as Frédo * Dominique Lacarrière as Rose

Reception

Stephen Holden of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

said "''Girls Can't Swim'' ultimately lacks the epic dimension of ''

Y Tu Mamá También Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

,'' but its vision of that awkward age when sex threatens to overwhelm everything else is acute enough to make everyone who has been there squirm with recognition." Leslie Camhi of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'' gave a positive review, writing “ irot’sfilm falters when it takes a final, violent turn into melodrama. Until then, though, she captures the deep currents of love and rivalry that make female teen friendships so important and so volatile.” Jamie Russell of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

reviewed the film positively, stating “Sexual politics aside, what makes Girls Can't Swim''' so involving is debut filmmaker Anne Sophie-Birot's nicely observed script, which treats its adolescent heroines with a wonderful amount of compassion.” Paula Nechak of the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...

'' said, “Birot delves into subtexts on the principles of transference: the

Oedipal The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...

attachments to their fathers that the girls renounce in order to gain other love objects. Her exploration of these psychological tenets in the context of modern teen behavior makes for darkly compelling and fresh viewing.” On the other hand, Charles Taylor of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

'' gave a negative review, writing, “Everything about Girls Can't Swim'',’ even its passages of sensitive observation, feels secondhand, familiar—and not in a good way.”

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film two stars, saying "The phrase ‘coming of age,' when applied to movies, almost always implies sex, but ''Girls Can't Swim'' has nothing useful to say about sex (certainly not compared to

Catherine Breillat Catherine Breillat (; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in ...

's brilliant ''

Fat Girl ''Fat Girl'' (french: À ma sœur!, lit=To My Sister!) is a 2001 drama film written and directed by Catherine Breillat, and starring Anaïs Reboux and Roxane Mesquida. It was released in certain English-speaking countries under the alternative t ...

'' from last year), and is too jerky in structure to inspire much empathy from us." The film has a 71% approval based on 34 reviews on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0239507, title=Girls Can't Swim *
Girls Can’t Swim
' at

*
Girls Can’t Swim
' at

Celluloid Dreams Celluloid Dreams is a French film production and distribution company that also operates as an international sales company. Additionally, the company runs a video on-demand platform, The Auteurs, in conjunction with The Criterion Collection. Cel ...

2000 films 2000 drama films 2000 LGBT-related films French LGBT-related films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related drama films 2000 directorial debut films French coming-of-age drama films 2000s coming-of-age drama films Films about juvenile sexuality Films set in Brittany Films set on beaches 2000s French films