Fresh
The film's intimate camera work and searing performances pull us deep into the girls' confusion and pain as they struggle tragically to comprehend the chasm of knowledge that's opened between them.
Paul Malcolm, L.A. Weekly
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
Girls Can't Swim
Overview
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.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
71%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Birot has succeeded in making a movie that has some laughs, low points and high ideals.
Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh
Until its final minutes this is a perceptive study of two families in crisis -- and of two girls whose friendship is severely tested by bad luck and their own immaturity.
John Hartl, Seattle Times
Rotten
I felt sad for Lise not so much because of what happens as because she was captured by this movie when she obviously belongs in something lighter and sunnier, by Rohmer, for example.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
Despite its shortcomings, Girls Can't Swim represents an engaging and intimate first feature by a talented director to watch, and it's a worthy entry in the French coming-of-age genre.
Loren King, Chicago Tribune
More films
El techo (2016)
Drama · N/A
In the middle of La Habana, three friends meet on the rooftop day after day to discuss their dreams and aspirations. Though they lack the proper resources, they decide to start their own business, a decision that pushes them towards maturity, although at an unforeseen cost.
- Runtime
- 1h 15m
- Cast
- Emmanuel Galbán
Sofie (1992)
Drama · N/A
Liv Ulmann's directorial debut also had her co-authoring the screenplay (with poet Peter Poulsen) as based on a Henri Nathansen's 1932 novel about an affluent late 19th century Jewish merchant family in Copenhagen. Ulmann focuses on strong-willed daughter Sofie's progress through life: a love affair with a gentile painter, an arranged ...
- Runtime
- 2h 32m
- Cast
- Karen-Lise Mynster, Ghita Nørby, Erland Josephson
IMDb
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes
67%
Bright Star (2009)
Drama · Romance · PG
In 1818, high-spirited young Fanny Brawne finds herself increasingly intrigued by the handsome but aloof poet John Keats, who lives next door to her family friends the Dilkes. After reading a book of his poetry, she finds herself even more drawn to the taciturn Keats. Although he agrees to teach her about poetry, Keats cannot act on hi...
- Runtime
- 1h 59m
- Director
- Jane Campion
- Cast
- Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider
IMDb
6.9
Rotten Tomatoes
83%
Metacritic
81
Ratcatcher (1999)
Drama · Not Rated
James Gillespie is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne, a vulnerable 14 year old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny,...
- Runtime
- 1h 34m
- Director
- Lynne Ramsay
- Cast
- William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews
IMDb
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes
85%
Metacritic
77
Happening (2021)
Drama · R
France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront s...
- Runtime
- 1h 39m
- Cast
- Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami
IMDb
7.4
Rotten Tomatoes
99%
Metacritic
86
Snow (1963)
Documentary · N/A
Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the multi-award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are ...
- Runtime
- 8m
- Director
- Geoffrey Jones
IMDb
7.0
Rail (1967)
Documentary · N/A
"Rail" captures British Railways at a major turning-point in its history. In certain respects, this was a period of considerable upheaval and loss. There was a facing-up to the increasing need for a big modernisation drive. Full and speedy electrification, or the wider promotion of diesel-power on remaining lines, became a matter of to...
- Runtime
- 14m
- Director
- Geoffrey Jones
IMDb
7.4
Locomotion (1975)
Documentary · N/A
Collage film about the history of trains set to music.
- Runtime
- 16m
- Director
- Geoffrey Jones
IMDb
7.2
Shell Spirit (1963)
N/A
Directed by Geoffrey Jones.
- Runtime
- 2m
- Director
- Geoffrey Jones
IMDb
6.8
Comments
Talk about the film with other members