The Water (Spanish: El agua) is a 2022 internationally co-produced drama film with magic realism elements directed by Elena López Riera [ca] 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]
The screenplay was penned by Elena López Riera alongside Philippe Azoury [fr].[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 [es].[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]
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: