On the contrary, I only make note of the laziest presumptions that people might create for Stewart’s debut because of the visceral fearlessness with which she defies them. There isn’t a single millisecond of this movie that doesn’t bristle with the raw energy of an artist who’s found the permission she needed to put her whole being into every frame,

Imogen Poots seizes the screen as Lidia Yuknavitch, who embraces swimming and sex and drugs and anger, all to make herself whole.

The Chronology of Water takes its haunting title from American author Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir. And yet, few films feel as deeply personal as this debut by Kristen Stewart, who emerges here as a natural filmmaker.