Dir: Kristen Stewart, 2025, US/France/Latvia, 128m
Cast: Imogen Poots, Thora Birch, Jim Belushi
Review by Matthew Morlai Kamara
We follow Lidia (Imogen Poots) from her turbulent Oregon childhood where family trauma collides with her early life, through her days as a competitive swimmer, her wild battles with addiction and self-destruction, and her eventual rise as a writer. With dreamlike visuals that’ll make your eyes pop and fragmented memories that zigzag like a caffeinated fish, this film plunges headfirst into the messy, human truth of how we stitch our own stories together – asking: how do you find meaning in a tide that’s determined to sweep you away?
There’s a line from the memoir that sticks fast: “Memories are stories, so you better come up with one that you can live with.” You can see and feel how Stewart’s vision breathes this into every single frame. The blood, sweat, and tears she must have poured into this project? You can almost taste them in each powerful, erratic scene.
Sure, she sometimes stumbles over her own frenzy to give it 110%, but let’s be real, that’s not a flaw. That’s courage with a side of drama. You can feel film running through her veins like electricity. This first dive from actress to director has me screaming out loud with excitement for what she’ll do next in her directorial career. Watch this space!
Imogen Poots is extraordinary in the role. It’s totally clear she took extensive notes from Stewart while preparing for the part, capturing Lidia’s vulnerability and ferocity with an honesty that hits you hard like a ton of bricks.
The Chronology of Water isn’t just a film, it’s a full-on deep-sea dive into the beautiful chaos of being human. It’s quite messy in parts, but it’s bold, apologetically alive, and it will stay with you a lot longer than that time you accidentally binge-watched a whole series on Netflix in one evening.
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