The Water (2022 film)
2022 film
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Water (Spanish: El agua) is a 2022 magic realism drama film co-written and directed by Elena López Riera in her directorial debut feature which stars Luna Pamies, Bárbara Lennie and Nieve de Medina. It is a joint Swiss-Spanish-French production.
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| The Water | |
|---|---|
Promotional release poster | |
| Spanish | El agua |
| Directed by | Elena López Riera |
| Written by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Truppi |
| Edited by | Raphaël Lefèvre |
| Music by | Mandine Knoepfel |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Elastica (es) |
Release dates |
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| Countries |
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| Language | Spanish |
Plot
Set in southeastern Spain, with the backdrop of a local superstition concerning women being predestined to drown in river floods, the plot follows Ana, who lives with her mother and her grandmother,[1] while the storm is coming.[2]
Cast
- Luna Pamies as Ana[1]
- Bárbara Lennie as Isabella[3]
- Nieve de Medina as Ángela[3]
- Alberto Olmo as José[1]
- Pascual Valero[4]
- Philippe Azoury[4]
Production
The screenplay was written by Elena López Riera alongside Philippe Azoury.[5] A Swiss-Spanish-French co-production, the film was produced by Alina Film, Suica Films and Les Films du Worso with support from Institut Valencià de Cultura, ICAA, Creative Europe's MEDIA, and participation of RTVE and À Punt Mèdia.[6][7] Shooting took place in Orihuela and other locations across the province of Alicante from April to May 2021.[8] Giuseppe Truppi took over the cinematography whereas Raphaël Lefèvre did so with the film editing.[9]
Release
The film had its world premiere on 20 May 2022 at the Directors' Fortnight parallel section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.[10][2] For its North-American premiere, it made it to the 'Contemporary World Cinema' strand of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[11]
Filmin and Elastica scooped the distribution rights for Spain,[6] where the film was scheduled to be theatrically released on 28 October 2022.[12] It eventually opened in Spanish theatres on 4 November 2022.[13]
Reception
On the American review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, The Water has a 100% approval rating based on 15 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.7/10.[14]
Jonathan Holland of ScreenDaily deemed the film to be a "daring, multi-layered debut feature", also writing that "[The Water is] a film which always feels carefully poised on the edge of the surreal, where dark things always seem to be pressing in".[4]
Manu Yáñez of Fotogramas rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, extolling the "audacity" of Elena López Riera at handling and intermingling the elements of the film.[15]
Elsa Fernández-Santos of El País deemed the "suggestive" debut feature to be "a film where the arcane becomes visible in a subtle and interior way".[16]
Top ten lists
The film appeared on a number of critics' top ten lists of the best Spanish films of 2022:
- 3rd — El Mundo (Luis Martínez)[17]
- 3rd — El Cultural (Begoña Donat)[18]
- 6th — El Periódico de Catalunya (critics)[19]
- 6th — El Confidencial (Marta Medina)[20]
- 7th — El Cultural (Carlos Heredero)[18]
- 7th — El Cultural (Javier Yuste)[18]
- 7th — El Cultural (Juan Sardá)[18]
- 8th — ABC (Oti Rodríguez Marchante)[21]
- 9th — Cadena SER (Pepa Blanes)[22]
- 10th — Cadena SER (Jose M. Romero)[22]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 27th Toulouse Spanish Film Festival | Golden Violet | Won | [23] | |
| 5th Berlanga Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [24][25] | ||
| Best Director | Elena López Riera | Nominated | |||
| Best Screenplay | Elena López Riera | Nominated | |||
| Best Actress | Luna Pamies | Won | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Lidia María Cánovas | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actor | Pascual Valero | Won | |||
| 16th Lisbon & Sintra Film Festival | Special Jury Prize (New Film) | Won | [26] | ||
| 2023 | 10th Feroz Awards | Arrebato Award (Fiction) | Nominated | [27] | |
| 78th CEC Medals | Best New Director | Elena López Riera | Nominated | [28][29] | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Bárbara Lennie | Nominated | |||
| 37th Goya Awards | Best New Director | Elena López Riera | Nominated | [30] | |
| Best New Actress | Luna Pamies | Nominated | |||