The pool is no sanctuary — at least not in Kristen Stewart’s much-anticipated feature directorial debut, “The Chronology of Water.” The newly released trailer announces a film steeped in raw emotion and tactile memory, offering a first glimpse at Stewart’s impressionistic translation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s cult memoir. Rather than following a cleanly structured arc, the project embraces the author’s fragmented, fiercely interior voice, crafting a sensory portrait of a life shaped by pain, art, and refusal.
Based on Yuknavitch’s acclaimed book, the film chronicles a woman determined to reshape the wreckage of her past into something survivable — and ultimately, transformative. Moving through loss, desire, self-invention, and the hard labor of rebuilding, Lidia’s story becomes an ode to turning personal chaos into creative force.
The narrative traces her path from childhood in the Pacific Northwest, where she emerged as a gifted competitive swimmer, through the ruptures and rebuildings that marked her adult life. Addiction, complicated love, artistic awakening, and the near-miss of motherhood all fold into a memory-driven structure that mirrors Yuknavitch’s defiant prose. The result is less traditional biopic than visceral immersion: a film about survival, sexuality, and the radical power of claiming one’s story.
Imogen Poots leads the film as Lidia, delivering what early footage suggests could be a career-defining performance. The ensemble also features Thora Birch, Susannah Flood, Tom Sturridge, former Sonic Youth musician/actor Kim Gordon, Michael Epp, and Jim Belushi.
Stewart — who has long been drawn to projects characterized by emotional volatility and artistic risk — approaches the material with an eye for intimacy and physical texture. The film appears to lean into the messy, tactile immediacy of Yuknavitch’s writing, a portrait not of clean recovery but of the ongoing work of becoming.
“The Chronology of Water” will open in select theaters on December 5, 2025, before expanding nationwide on January 9, 2026.
