By the name of it, Float gave off the impression that it would be another one of those pretentious dramas where Float was supposed to encapsulate the experience of a person, as in how we are all floating in this meaningless cosmos. But to my surprise, Float was related to a girl learning how to swim, and weirdly, that became a metaphor for learning how to navigate the turbulent waters of her relationship with her parents. Based on the novel of the same name by Kate Merchant, the film does take its sweet time setting the tone, but once it does, it becomes a decent watch for young adults. Those dealing with two quite different cultures in their daily lives will definitely relate to it more.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Film?
Waverly had plans to go to Taipei to meet her parents, but that plan was canceled, not by her but by the parents themselves. Waverly, a young girl of Asian descent, had lived away from her parents for four years. She was born in Canada, but somewhere when she was growing up, her parents decided to go back to their home country and let her study at a boarding school. Waverly understood the academic part of her school life exceptionally well and was supposed to go to Taipei before joining a medical residency in Toronto. It had been quite a long time since she had seen her parents, and when they canceled the plan, something shifted in her, and instead of going back to Toronto and simply waiting for her course to begin, she decided to visit a small town in Canada called Holden and go through the pangs of growing up, but this time in a more meaningful way.
Why Did Waverly Go To Holden?
Waverly’s mother’s sister Rachel lived in Holden, and there was something about her relationship with Waverly that made her visit that place. The small town didn’t exactly have too many fun places to go, except perhaps the beach, but Waverly was trying to figure out what her mind or heart was up to. She herself wasn’t able to figure out why she had come to Holden. It was good that Rachel was there and was running a small restaurant, so Waverly had someone to go to. There were clear apprehensions in Waverly’s mind, though, and it seemed she was embarrassed to have come. This was what she was like, but why? The answer could be that she had internalized her parents’ view of what Rachel was like. Rachel’s life couldn’t be called one without hiccups. Her marriage had ‘failed’ and she had been forced to live in a small town in a remote location, away from the rest of her family. But Waverly’s heart knew there was something in this ‘failure’ that was worth respecting, which is why Rachel was the one she came to meet with. Her own point of view of the world was beginning to take shape, and in this world, women like Rachel were successful and living a good life. This wasn’t obvious to Waverly when she first arrived, but soon she got accustomed to Holden’s lifestyle and even started a romance.
Why Did Waverly And Blake End Their ‘Situationship’?
Blake was a lifeguard at the beach and had the physique that would put Ken from Barbie to shame. Their first meeting was so dramatic that there was nothing they could’ve done to top that, not in Holden, at least. Blake saved Waverly from drowning and was a little surprised that Waverly couldn’t swim, even a little bit. Everybody saw that there was a spark. Rachel’s close friends Lena, Jesse, and Lena’s wife Van were seeing Waverly settle in quite nicely in Holden, given that Blake was training her personally how to swim. But Waverly was in two minds. She had her whole life ahead of her, and this Holden thing had just begun as an impulsive decision. It was never supposed to be anything more than a temporary detour. A vacation of sorts.
It was only when she began to let go and overcame her fear of drowning that she started to feel something different. This floating sensation in the water seemed to have given her a high that she had never experienced. The freedom that she had now in the water, she had never had in life. Blake’s coaching had helped, and without him, she would have never learned how to swim or overcome the fear of drowning. The control that she had over the water was quite empowering, and she had the courage to start a meaningful relationship with Blake, not caring how that could impact her future.
Blake was an orphan, with a younger sister, Isabel, to look after. Isabel was in a pretty turbulent relationship with Ethan, and most of Blake’s time went into stopping her from meeting Ethan. Blake’s responsibilities as a guardian made him bound in many ways. In their ‘situationship,’ timing had to be perfect, and it wasn’t. Waverly’s parents arrived in Toronto and called Waverly, who had made it look like she had never left Toronto. She came to meet Blake to tell him that she had to perhaps go back to Toronto to meet her parents, and he immediately jumped to the conclusion that she was breaking up with him. Blake had just had a fight with Isabel and wasn’t in the best of moods. He was feeling lonely and misread what Waverly was trying to communicate. Seeing such disdain from him, Waverly decided to end everything and leave.
How Did Waverly And Blake End Up Together?
Waverly was sure that she would have come back after meeting her parents, but Blake’s disinterest (which came out of a place of agony) made her change her decision. A miracle was needed to keep them together, and it was the miracle of birth. Lena was 9 months pregnant, and her water broke the next day after Blake and Waverly had a fight. Everybody came together to get Lena to the hospital, but Isabel was nowhere to be found. Seeing Blake distressed, Waverly offered to help, and they went to see the remote places where Isabel could have been. Ultimately, Blake discovered her, and it was only Waverly who could make him see Isabel’s point of view. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and he had to let her make her own mistakes and take the burden off of his shoulders of being a parent all the time.
After Lena gave birth to a baby boy, Blake and Waverly had time together, and it was then that both of them were in a calm state of mind. They discussed their issues like the adults they were, and it was then that Blake was upfront about his own feelings. He wasn’t ready to enter a relationship, as he thought he couldn’t do justice to it. He brought up the fact that Waverly was all smart and intelligent, and a big career was waiting for her while he was just a lifeguard in Holden. Waverly expressed her desire to be with him and told him to let her make her own choices in life. Blake could not answer definitively, and Waverly went back to Toronto to meet her parents.
During Float’s ending, Waverly meets her parents and expresses that they had been too impersonal with her. They had seldom taken her wishes into consideration while taking a step, and it was time that this behavior stopped. They had left Toronto after putting her in boarding school and now canceled her trip to Taipei. When she finally got a taste of freedom, they whimsically showed up in Toronto without informing her that they were coming in for a visit. All of this had built up some anger in Waverly, but now she was able to communicate it in a cohesive manner. Waverly’s father was caught off guard when Waverly expressed her wish that he should call her sometimes instead of just letting Waverly’s mother do all the talking. After her parents left for Taipei, Blake showed up and confessed that he loved her too, and she was right that he had to let go of control a bit so that others could make a free choice. The situation was now a full-fledged relationship, and given that they had been mature in their dealings as a couple, the foundation of their relationship seemed strong. Now whether or not they’ll stay together is a tough guess, as Rachel had tried hard as well, but her marriage had failed. The cultural difference would become too much of an issue as they both had similar mindsets, but Blake would have to support her in her career and not try to control things too much.
