French Music: Guy Béart's "L'eau vive" | French Language Blog
: As the lyrics progress, the stream (and by extension, the girl) matures, eventually leaving the "pebbles of the shore" to flow into the wide sea—a bittersweet metaphor for marriage and the departure from the family nest.
The song was originally written for the 1958 film L'Eau vive , directed by François Villiers and written by legendary novelist Jean Giono.