Les filles ne savent pas nager

This film was a startling surprise. I found the natural performances and "un-rushed" pacing remarkably refreshing. I would compare the originality of the teenage characters more to Ghost World than the way they are often portrayed in popular American films like "Fast Times . ." or "Clueless". Gwen is a full of life, imaginitive, dark and original character. Lise was the misguided, down on her luck loner looking for answers in her mixed up world. I dont see how people could say this was boring.

How many times have you seen two French teenagers slap each other with fish guts. No, there is no gun scene and unlike Road to Perdition, it lacks stylized violence which may be hard for some viewers to handle. Aside from the abrupt ending, Its original characters, lovely seaside vistas, natural performances, and creative storytelling make this a hidden masterpiece.

Two French girlfriends await their annual get-together at the start of summer vacation. The film is constructed in three parts. It starts with the story of Gwen, a flirtatious and perky blonde. The focus then shifts to Lise, a dark-haired and depressed teen who has just lost her father. The two friends come together in the final part. It's not clear what the point of this movie is. There isn't much of a plot. As the two girls undergo mostly mundane experiences, it makes for rather uninteresting viewing. Something out of the ordinary does happen towards the end, but it is so bizarre that it seems to have been added just to have a big finish.

My sister and I saw this film at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago. The film seemed to drag on forever without much forward motion. When it finally ended, the entire audience burst out laughing--a very odd response to a tragic narrative. I'm not really sure why everyone laughed--nervous tension, perhaps, since the film ends on a down-note. But, it was more than that. It seems that the pacing and the setting were so culturally removed from what most Americans are used to that the film seems almost absurd. Absurd is really not the right word--perhaps the film is just very difficult to identify with due to the overlong and tedious pacing and the utter lack of humorous moments to offset the downward spiral into sadness. I hate to mention cultural difference as being a reason to judge a film, but clearly some universal message was missing. Kieslowski's _Ten Commandments_ are examples of films that depict a very different culture from what some people in other countries might experience, but Kieslowski manages to instill a sense of humanity and timelessness to his work that _Girls Can't Swim_ cannot seem to muster.

And from my perspective, the two girls simply weren't very compelling. One teenage girl explores sex, the other is depressed over her father's death and does things like see how long she can hold her breath under water. Ho hum. Both could have used a bit more character development.

This isn't a bad film--just a very slow, humorless one.

The pace was slow - but that's fine. Life as a teenager can be slow and drawn out, teenage summers last at least double as long as those in later life. Isild Le Besco as Gwen was superficially transparent, boys, clothes, sunglasses, her friendship with tomboy, Lise; but that was the problem; superficiality. There were no long, lingering, artistic longshots of the resort, beachlife, metaphorical flowers blooming or as in the case of Gwen and Lise's relationship, getting frazelled and decaying in the hot sun. The boys were just adjuncts, there was no character development, because they were given no characters.

The implied sensuality of the two girls' relationship was only hinted at, as was the nature of the relationship of Lise's two sisters, briefly filmed together in the bath, one washing the other's back, possibly a prelude to a more frontal association, sufficient, anyway, for Lise to take her grandmother shopping to avoid any possible embarrassment.

Had the girls changed perceptions, desires and interests during their last summer together been properly depicted, had the boys been human, had there been a little impish humour, this could have been a minor gem, or a gem about two minors. As it is, the acting was proficient (it's amazing Karen Alyx - Lise - was 21 when she played the role, she seemed so much a teen) the direction by Anne-Sophie Birot, adequate, but very much a woman's perspective, including the integrity of the nudity. But the ending was unnecessarily shallow; the girls should have just had a catfight and video'd it for You Tube, that would have been more realistic, although less French. Maybe You Tube wasn't around in the year 2000. It should have been, the film needed it.

Being a long-time viewer of French cinema, I had no problems with the pacing or style of this film. In fact, that's why I like European film in general, for a break from the predictability of Hollywood/American cinema.

Actually, I didn't think the pace of this film was particularly slow. "Gwen" seemed constantly on the move, one crisis quickly followed another in her family.

Both girls, as perhaps most people, seemed to have positive natures, but life was dealing them some hard blows, and neither had the tools to overcome the difficulties being dealt them.

Both needed affection and love, but were going about getting in unhealthy ways. They seemed to be searching for affection almost blindly, or instinctually, to me.

I felt empathy for both characters; and as for the comment that "the lead needs to be better looking," I disagree. I thought both were very attractive in their own way.