The Water (2022 film)
| The Water | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Film poster | |
| Spanish | El agua |
| Directed by | Elena López Riera |
| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Giuseppe Truppi |
| Edited by | Raphaël Lefèvre |
| Music by | Mandine Knoepfel |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Elastica/Filmin (es) |
Release dates |
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| Countries |
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| Language | Spanish |
The Water (Spanish: El agua) is a 2022 internationally co-produced drama film with magic realism elements 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.
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 penned 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] It was set to have its North-American premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the 'Contemporary World Cinema' film slate.[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 | |||
See also
References
- ^ a b c Correa, Guillermo (20 April 2022). "'El agua', de Elena López Riera, competirá en la Quincena de realizadores de Cannes". El Cultural – via El Español.
- ^ a b Mullor, Mireia (19 April 2022). "Elena López Riera competirá en el Festival de Cannes con 'El agua'". Fotogramas.
- ^ a b "El agua". Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
- ^ a b c Holland, Jonathan (20 May 2022). "'El Agua': Cannes Review". ScreenDaily.
- ^ Partearroyo, Daniel de (19 April 2022). "'El agua', la película de Elena López Riera que participa en la Quincena de Realizadores de Cannes". Cinemanía – via 20minutos.es.
- ^ a b "Cine 'El agua', de Elena López Riera, competirá en la Quincena de realizadores del Festival de Cannes". rtve.es. 19 April 2022.
- ^ Cabeza, Elisabet (27 July 2021). "Spain Stars of Tomorrow: Elena López Riera (writer-director)". ScreenDaily.
- ^ Prado, África (19 April 202). "Elena López Riera competirá con 'El agua' en la Quincena de Realizadores del Festival de Cannes". Levante-EMV.
- ^ "Just Spainted. Winter/Spring 2022. New Spanish Films" (PDF). ICAA. p. 127. Retrieved 21 April 2022 – via Audiovisual451.
- ^ "Elena López Riera debuta en Cannes: "El misticismo es parte de mi educación"". La Vanguardia. 20 May 2022.
- ^ Kay, Jeremy (17 August 2022). "Toronto unveils 2022 TIFF Docs, Contemporary World Cinema line-ups". ScreenDaily.
- ^ Belinchón, Gregorio (27 August 2022). "El otoño del cine en España navega a favor de la corriente". El País.
- ^ Montfort, Carla (4 February 2023). "Es una hipnótica ópera prima aunque pasó desapercibida en cines: por fin está en streaming una de las más especiales candidatas a los Premios Goya". Espinof.
- ^ "The Water". RottenTomatoes. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
- ^ Yáñez, Manu (23 May 2022). "Crítica de 'El agua': la propuesta fluvial de Elena López Riera en Cannes". Fotogramas.
- ^ Fernández-Santos, Elsa (21 May 2022). "'El agua', un sugerente debut sobre mujeres y mitos de la española Elena López Riera cautiva en Cannes". El País.
- ^ Martínez, Luis (18 December 2022). "Las 10 mejores películas españolas de 2022". El Mundo.
- ^ a b c d "Cine: las votaciones de nuestros críticos 2022". El Cultural. 20 December 2022 – via El Confidencial.
- ^ "Las 10 mejores películas españolas de un 2022 para la historia". El Periódico de Catalunya. 19 December 2022.
- ^ Medina, Marta (15 December 2022). "Las 10 mejores películas españolas de 2022: el año más bestia del siglo XXI". El Confidencial.
- ^ Rodríguez Marchante, Oti (27 December 2022). "Las diez mejores películas españolas de 2022, un año de cine sobresaliente". ABC.
- ^ a b Blanes, P; Romero, J.; Castro, E. (23 December 2022). "Las 10 mejores películas españolas de 2022 en un año espectacular para nuestro cine". Cadena SER.
- ^ "Cinespaña 2022 : " El agua " Violette d'Or". La Dépêche du Midi. 15 October 2022.
- ^ Camacho, Noelia (19 October 2022). "Estos son los nominados a los Premios Berlanga del audiovisual valenciano". Las Provincias.
- ^ Garcés, Laura (13 November 2022). "Estos son los ganadores de los Premios Berlanga del audiovisual valenciano". Las Provincias. Grupo Vocento.
- ^ "Poeta ganha prémio de melhor filme no festival LEFFEST". Público. 20 November 2022.
- ^ "Premios Feroz 2023 | Palmarés completo: empatan 'As bestas' y 'Cinco lobitos' en cine y 'La ruta' y 'No me gusta conducir' en series". Cinemanía. 29 January 2023 – via 20minutos.es.
- ^ "'As bestas' y 'Cinco lobitos', las más nominadas a las Medallas CEC". Cine con Ñ. 15 December 2022.
- ^ ""As bestas", con siete premios, gran triunfadora de las Medallas CEC 2023". Cadena COPE. 7 February 2023.
- ^ "'As Bestas', ganadora en los Goya 2023, con 9 premios: lista completa de películas premiadas". rtve.es. 12 February 2023.