The Chronology of Water

Fearless. That’s the word that comes to mind to describe Kristen Stewart’s bold and accomplished directorial debut, based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch. Played across an impressive age range by Imogen Poots, Lidia suffers the rages of her domineering, abusive father as a teenager, throws herself into competitive swimming and wins a college scholarship, which she blows through excessive drink and drugs. She also blows up a relationship with an aggravatingly nice young man (Tom Sturridge) en route to recovering her sense of self through writing and the mentorship of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey (Jim Belushi).

Shooting on 16mm film, Stewart presents us with a blistering barrage of intense but fragmented images, the kind of memories that sear themselves to your brain even though you’d prefer to block them out. Even the memories the movie refuses to show still sting. This isn’t always a comfortable watch but it’s truthful and ultimately redemptive.

Mesmerizing… Imogen Poots [is] fantastically expressive.

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

What makes Chronology such a masterful debut is Stewart’s innate understanding of how to translate this idea—of the visceral, invisible ways that our bodies keep the score—to the screen.

Isaac Feldberg, rogerebert.com

Artful and captivating… A movie that’s all about consciousness, one that shows you everything but never spells it out too obviously… as if every shot were a sentence ripped from a hidden diary. This is the beauty of what movies can do. They can be voyeuristic and honest — — give us privileged glimpses of the forbidden, of what people are really like, of all the muck and pain and yearning we cover up.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety