Unfortunately this Kenneth Anger film runs 10 minutes more than that. Actually, the flow of the water is nice to watch, the colors are pretty great and the classical music is good to listen to, but it's simply not enough material for such a runtime. I would like to say that this not turning out so well may have been because of Anger's inexperienced being only in his mid20s when he made this, but this was already his 10th movie and he had been active for over 10 years at that point already as a filmmaker, so I cannot be more generous with the rating here. Overall, I have to say this was a disappointment. Most of his films are pretty much style over substance to this date. He is almost 90 right now and still making movies. Oh yeah, don't be fooled by the French title, there is no spoken language in here, so you can watch this if you don't speak the language. But why would you want to? "Eaux d'artifice", I cannot recommend.

The short films of Kenneth Anger are certainly NOT for the casual film goer! The best way to describe them is avant-garde--and often make little sense, as they are not meant to be shown to the masses. Some are incredibly artistic--like filmed work of art. Some are really cheaply made and definitely look it. Regardless, they are a challenge to watch and I very strongly recommend you see them with his commentary activated. So why would I see these shorts? Well, in a recent interview I noticed that John Waters credits Anger for much of his inspiration. And, since I have seen all the films of Waters that are available (a couple very early ones aren't), it seems natural I'd give Anger's films a try. This and four other reviews are best on the DVD "Films of Kenneth Anger: Volume 1".I notice that one reviewer gave this film a 1 and called it the worst of Anger's films. While I can really understand someone not liking his work (it is a very acquired taste), I can't see attacking this film in particular, as it is one of the loveliest and most technically amazing shorts of the age. While I do NOT generally like art films, this one is amazing.Much of the reason I was so impressed with this film was as Anger described it in the commentary track, I realized just how difficult the film was to get it to look the way it did. To give the film a wonderful blue luminous quality, he actually filmed the short using black & white film shot through a red filter. Then, he had the result developed using color stock! To make the scenery at Tivoli's water garden look bigger, he used a midget as his actress! And, to get the water to cascade just right, he also used varying speeds with the camera. I was quite impressed that a film maker who was not at all "Hollywood" but an avant-garde film maker would know to do this. Additionally, the use of Vivaldi's "Winter" from "The Four Seasons" was perfectly timed to the film and made the whole thing a treat to see.If you are looking for an art film, it doesn't get a lot better than this.

A stunning water garden is the empyrean setting for this short film, one of the director's strongest works. The ceaseless motion of liquid in an elaborate fountain-system is given close study in high-contrast black and white...jets, streams and droplets dance madly to classical music as the water becomes seemingly enlivened with a zoetic personality. The mood shifts with the music's dramatic rise-and-fall, being somber and wintry one moment, majestic and powerful the next. Intermittently, a shadowy figure in period costume moves hurriedly through the scenery, adding even further mystique to the proceedings. Mesmerizing in its organic beauty...a small masterwork. 9/10

Somewhat atypical of Anger's films, this seems to be a pure visual treat with none of his trademark homoeroticism or occult references. To a soundtrack of "The Four Seasons", a woman wearing eighteenth century clothes wanders through a garden carrying a fan, until she comes across a fountain. She enters the waters, and fades to nothingness. Anger's camerawork is nothing less than sensational, catching the play of light on the water superbly. This short film was shot in b&w, and printed with a coloured tint, with the fan hand-tinted in a separate colour. Simple, and beautifully effective.