"L'effet aquatique" is a French love story, centered around Samir, who falls in love with a swim instructor and tries to conquer her, pretending he can't swim. When his lie becomes obvious, he tries to fight for her but has an accident that changes everything.From all you see before you watch the film, it looks like one of the typical artsy French films that draws its effect from the creativity and small details that bring the plot alive. In reality, this is a rather basic love story mixed with a bit of this art and some questionable jokes. I really enjoyed some scenes but some of the aspects are just implausible (I've never seen so many women hit on an average-looking guy) and some twists like the accident seem rather desperate to take the film into a certain direction. All in all this is not a bad movie but you should just expect a small love story instead of a film that is a lot different from what you're used to see in cinemas. If you manage to do so, you'll surely have a nice time with this one.

L'Effet Aquatique is a Franco-Icelandic co-production and it seems the efforts were divided over two teams that delivered work of differing quality. The first half of the film is set in France and develops the relationship between the protagonists in a believable way.Unfortunately, once the story moves to Iceland, it gradually loses its freshness. The wonderful vistas of Iceland's nature easily outshine the French cityscape, but the interaction between the protagonists falls apart in a failed attempt to bring a sense of magic or predestination into it.Score 7 on the strength of the first part.