AllMovie

A woman trying to come out of the closet must contend with her family, whose closets have some skeletons of their own in this independent drama. Casey (Angela Redman) is a woman from an upper class Massachusetts family whose mother (Annette Miller) expected her to go into business or one of the professions. Casey, however, has developed an interest in commercial fishing and is pursuing that as an occupation, much to her mother's chagrin. However, this is hardly Casey's biggest point of contention with her parents; Casey is a lesbian, but her parents not only openly disapprove of her lifestyle, they're openly hostile to Alex (Nina Landey), Casey's significant other. While Casey is grudgingly invited to the family's holiday celebration, Alex is not, but it turns out that Alex knows Casey's family better than they imagine; Alex makes her living counseling young people with drug problems, and one of her new clients is Casey's younger brother. Treading Water was the first feature from director Lauren Himmel; the film was shown in competition at the 2001 Seattle Film Festival, as well as the same year's Los Angeles Outfest.