Girls Can't Swim (2000)
"Les filles ne savent pas nager" (original title)

Gwen is a teenager living in a small coastal town. Lise is her best friend, a city girl who comes every year with her family to spend the summer. This year things are different though; at ... See full summary »

Director:

Anne-Sophie Birot

Writers:

Anne-Sophie Birot, Christophe Honoré

Stars:

Isild Le Besco, Karen Alyx, Pascale Bussières

4 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Isild Le Besco	...	Gwen
Karen Alyx	...	Lise
Pascale Bussières	...	Céline
Pascal Elso	...	Alain
Marie Rivière	...	Anne-Marie
Yelda Reynaud	...	Solange
Sandrine Blancke	...	Vivianne
Julien Cottereau	...	Frédo
Dominique Lacarrière	...	Rose
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
France Besson
Damien Boenwec
Yves Claessens
Sylvie Contant
Youenn Dorval
Julien Honoré

Storyline

Gwen is a teenager living in a small coastal town. Lise is her best friend, a city girl who comes every year with her family to spend the summer. This year things are different though; at first Lise might not come at all, and when she does it is obvious that Gwen grew up faster than she did.

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Plot Keywords:

topless female nudity | swimming | bathing resort | panties hit the floor | swimwear | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

18 October 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Girls Can't Swim

Filming Locations:

Brittany, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$5,238 (USA) (19 April 2002)

Gross:

$68,460 (USA) (15 November 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Conseil Régional de Bretagne, Procirep

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Teenage Girls; C'est la vie

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.