Anna Wittowsky, Cannes Film Festival, drama, Earl Cave, Esme Creed Miles, film festivals, Imogen Poots, Jim Belushi, Kim Gordon, Kristen Stewart, LGBTQ, Marlena Sniega, Michael Epp, movies, reviews, Susannah Flood, The Chronology of Water, Thora Birch, Tom Sturridge
January 14, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Kristen Stewart
Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the United States, from 1969 to 2016, the dramatic film “The Chronology of Water” (based on writer Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Lidia Yuknavitch experiences a troubled life of substance addiction, self-harm and trauma from childhood sexual abuse in her journey to becoming a celebrated writer.
Culture Audience: “The Chronology of Water” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Yuknavitch, filmmaker Kristen Stewart, the movie’s headliners, and well-acted biographical movies about talented but tortured artists.
Bold and intentionally chaotic, the biographical drama “The Chronology of Water” takes viewers into the troubled mind of writer Lidia Yuknavitch, with a tour-de-force performance from Imogen Poots. It’s an unsettling but memorable film. Some viewers won’t like the stream-of-consciousness format of the film, while others will appreciate that the movie is like a puzzle telling the story of Yuknavitch’s life, with not all the puzzle pieces being found at the end. “The Chronology of Water” has a lot of quick-cut editing, to reflect the fragmented memories depicted in the movie.
Written and directed by Kristen Stewart, “The Chronology of Water” is Stewart’s feature-film directorial debut. Stewart is also one of the producers of the film. “The Chronology of Water” had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The movie is based on Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir of the same name. “The Chronology of Water” (whose timeline is from 1969 to 2016) takes place in various parts of the United States. The movie was actually filmed in Malta.
Poots portrays Yuknavitch (who was born in San Francisco on June 18, 1963) from her teenage years until her early 50s. She also does voiceover narration that often sounds like poetry readings. The movie chronicles Yuknavitch’s journey from surviving sexual abuse from her father; going from being a swimming star at her high school to a failed attempt at becoming an Olympic swimmer because of substance addiction; and her eventual discovery of her talent as a writer. Yuknavitch’s bisexuality, three marriages and her experiences with pregnancy are also depicted in the movie.
For the purposes of this review, the real people will be referred to be their last names. The movie characters will be referred to by their first names. “The Chronology of Water,” which is told in five chapters, has occasional flashbacks to Lidia’s childhood to show the abuse that she suffered from her cruel father Mike (played by Michael Epp), who had a Jekyll and Hyde personality. The abuse is not shown in explicit details, but there are sound effects of the beatings and rapes that leave no doubt about what is happening.
In real life, Yuknavitch’s birth surname was Yukman. She changed her surname to Yuknavitch as an adult. In order to avoid confusion, the movie makes Lidia have the surname Yuknavitch during her childhood and teen years. To the outside world, her family seems to be a typical middle-class family in Gainesville, Florida. But behind closed doors, the family was very dysfunctional and hiding years of horrific abuse.
Lidia at 6 or 7 years old (played by Anna Wittowsky) is seen as someone who was very close to and almost worshipful of her sister Claudia (played by Marlena Sniega), who is about seven or eight years older than Lidia. Claudia experiences abuse from their father too, but since the movie is told from Lidia’s perspective, Claudia’s pain is hinted at but not fully explored. Claudia tries to protect Lidia, but since they both live in fear of their father and because Claudia is also a child, there’s a limit on what Claudia can do to stop the abuse. The sisters’ mother Dorothy (played by Susannah Flood) has alcoholism and is often too drunk to notice or care that her daughters are being abused.
As a teenager, Lidia excels as a swimming athlete, but even her accomplishments are fraught with experiences that damage her self-esteem. An unnamed and unseen male coach does weigh-ins of the female swimmers on the school’s team and gives them a hard spank on the rear end for each pound of extra weight that he thinks the swimmer should lose. And when Lidia gets only partial (not full) swimming scholarship offers from colleges and universities, her father is furious and treats her as if she’s a loser.
Just like many kids abused by a parent, Lidia has hatred of the abusive parent but still loves the parent and wants the parent’s approval. Mike has criticisms of almost everything that Lidia does. If she doesn’t wear feminine clothes, he snarls at her, “Are you trying to look like a man?” He tries to control everything that she does and plays mind games with Lidia about how he feels about her.
A scene that shows Mike’s bizarre moodiness takes place in the garage of the family’s house. Lidia, who is in her late teens and close to graduating from high school, wants to run away from home. Her father sees her in the garage and tells her in a gentle voice, “I want you to know that I love you,” before his face fills with rage and he snaps, “You fucking whore!” It’s implied that Mike has an undiagnosed mental illness, but that’s still no excuse for his disgusting abuse.
It should come as no surprise that when Lidia moves away from her family to go to college in Texas, she tries to submerge her trauma by abusing alcohol and drugs. One day, when she’s hanging out on a college campus lawn, she sees a mild-mannered student named Phillip (played by Earl Cave), who’s by himself as he sings and strums an acoustic guitar. Lidia can sense that Phillip—who is sensitive, kind, and loving—is the opposite of her father. Lidia sets out to seduce Phillip and succeeds.
But the relationship of Lidia and Phillip is off-kilter from the start because Lidia has so much self-hatred that she’s not in a place in her life where she can truly have a healthy and loving relationship. Phillip’s qualities that initially attracted Lidia to him end up being repulsive to her. She complains to Phillip that he’s passive and “too nice” for her. She purposely instigates mean-spirited arguments with him, almost as if she wants Phillip to break up with her.
Phillip doesn’t mistreat her and he doesn’t want to break up with her, but you know things will not end well for this couple. After the first time that Lidia goes in rehab, Phillip arrives to pick her up in a car when she completes the program and tells her that he’s proud of her. Lidia, who is in a sour mood, then begins to insult him. But by the end of the conversation, she proposes marriage to him, and he says yes. This is her first doomed marriage. Years later, in hindsight, Lidia expresses remorse for how badly she treated Phillip during their relationship.
As adults, sisters Lidia and Claudia (played by Thora Birch) are in and out of each other’s lives, mostly because their lives go in completely different directions. Claudia’s adult life is relatively stable with her husband (who is never seen in the movie), while Lidia’s life is very messy. Claudia remains steadfastly loyal to Lidia whenever Lidia needs her. Their parents show up for milestone events in Lidia’s life, but as an adult, Lidia seems to purposely avoid her parents as much as possible.
Lidia’s talent for writing is noticed by certain people, including her close friend Claire (played by Esme Creed Miles), who later becomes Lidia’s lover. Claire encourages a reluctant Lidia to join a University of Oregon graduate-school program taught by writer/counterculture celebrity Ken Kesey (played by Jim Belushi), whose claim to fame is the 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and for being a founder of the psychedelic artistic group the Merry Pranksters. In the movie, Ken is portrayed as an eccentric, friendly, drug-taking burnout, who encourages his students to be their best and is haunted by the death of his son. From 1987 to 1988, Lidia is part of this student group that collaborates with Ken on the group-authored book “Caverns.” She eventually gets her Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Oregon.
Lidia’s second marriage is to an avant-garde performance artist named Devin (played by Tom Sturridge), and it’s a different type of failure from her first marriage. Devin also has alcoholism, so their marriage plays out in the movie like fractured memories of someone who had too many drunken blackouts during the relationship. Lidia’s arrest for driving while intoxicated is one of her “rock bottom” moments, but “The Chronology of Water” doesn’t have any details about whether or not Lidia ever had years of sobriety from alcohol and drugs after admitting to having these addictions.
Lidia’s third marriage is to filmmaker Andy Mingo (played by Charlie Carrick), whom she meets in her 40s, when he is a student in her writing class, and she is a semi-famous writer who can’t afford to have a car. Andy is compassionate and patient, but he’s no pushover, like her first husband Phillip. It’s during this part of Lidia’s life that she’s not the self-destructive train wreck that she once was. And although she doesn’t expect to fall in love with Andy, she does.
Poots has done some great acting in movies over the years, but she is usually overlooked for major awards. She is a marvel to watch as Lidia in “The Chronology of Water,” as she embodies every type of emotion in this gutsy and compelling performance. Birch also gives a fantastic performance as the more low-key Claudia, who may not be as outwardly angry as Lidia, but the ways Birch expresses Claudia’s inner agony and turmoil through her eyes and body language are just as credible and impactful.
The movie has an interesting casting choice with Belushi, who is known mostly for his comedic roles. Ken is the closest thing that the movie has for comic relief, but the comedy is bittersweet. Ken is someone who is way past his prime, and he knows it, but he still has a certain zest for life that inspires his students. Kim Gordon (former bass guitarist for the rock band Sonic Youth) is another unexpected casting choice: She has a cameo (about five minutes of screen time) as an unnamed photographer who gives dominatrix service to Lidia.
As a filmmaker, Stewart shows unique artistic vision in “The Chronology of Water,” which purposely avoids pandering to mainstream predictability. And it’s the same reason why some viewers might feel alienated by how this story is presented: There are no trite or easy answers to Lidia’s problems. Some people might think the narrative style of “The Chronology of Water” is too rambling and pretentious. Others will think it’s refreshing and challenging because it will make viewers curious about where the story is headed next. The movie has sharp observations about the beauty, ugliness, joy, despair and everything in between about Lidia’s life.
The movie gets its title from the fact that water is a constant theme in Lidia’s life, whether it is the escape she feels from swimming, or when she is in a shower after cutting herself and blood is seen going down the drain, or she finds comfort from taking a bath in a bathtub. Lidia also experiences some life-altering moments near a beach. “The Chronology of Water” is not supposed to be an easy film to watch. But for people open-minded enough to experience the movie, it offers a clear and hopeful message that recovery from trauma and self-sabotage is difficult but can be possible and is an ongoing process.
The Forge released “The Chronology of Water” in select U.S. cinemas on December 5, 2025, with wider expansion to more U.S. cinemas on January 9, 2026.