Young Woman and the Sea

Familiar but engaging, Joachim Rønning’s biographical sports drama, about the taxing journey of swimmer Trudy Ederle and how she was the first swimmer to swim across the English Channel, certainly holds a lot of sports movie cliches, and it holds many of the same narrative beats as last year’s Nyad, but it’s so empowering, compelling, and its such a noble tribute to female athletes that it’s easy to forgive its familiarity. Young Woman and the Sea works well as an empowering sports drama in part to Ronning’s superb directing skills and Daisy Ridley’s commanding performance.

Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released by Walt Disney Pictures, Rønning delivers a handsomely crafted and compelling sports story to life with rich poignancy and impressive swimming sequences. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with Tron: Ares. There is a sense of delicate care put into the material and characterizations where Rønning puts a lot of attention, and Daisy Ridley is able to pull off another outstanding performance. Her second one this year, the other being Sometimes I Think About Dying.

Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures

The film chronicles Trudy and her passion for swimming even as a young girl, in which her father, a butcher named Henry Ederle (Kim Bodnia), forbids her from swimming because, at the time, swimming was just for “boys.” Young Trudy (Olive Abercrombie) stays persistent though; she ends up going out into the Atlantic Ocean off the shores of New York City, and she doggy paddles out into the sea under her father’s supervision. While Trudy doesn’t get much support from her father, she does get support from her mother, Gertrude Derle (Jeanette Hain), as she pushes for Trudy and her sister Meg (Lily Aspel, a younger Meg) to learn swimming and pursue their talents.

Years pass, and both Trudy (Ridley) and Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) still have a passion for swimming. Meg was the more advanced swimmer at the time, as Trudy’s illness from the measles put her swimming to the side, especially to protect her ears from hearing loss due to the infections. As she sees Meg’s joys of swimming, Trudy persuades her parents again to swim. Henry wants her to move on from it, as Gertrude supports it. Trudy ends up being trained by Charlotte (Sian Clifford), and Trudy ends up joining races with her sister and ends up finishing first at every swim meet.

Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures

She eventually goes to the Olympics and wins while breaking records. She even gets some corporate sponsorship from reluctant sports agent James Sullivan (Glenn Flesher), who is an opportunist once he notices Trudy’s swimming is starting to gain traction in the press. Sadly, once the American women swimming lose funding and sponsorship, Trudy ends up returning to normal life and works at her father’s butcher shop, where he attempts to hold an arranged marriage. We notice her life is being controlled by her father, and even Meg can’t date men she wants to marry as she is persuaded to marry someone within her German nationality. Trudy ends up feeling the urge to swim more, especially when she goes to the movies, and during the sneak previews, they often have updates on many swimmers failed attempts to swim across the English Channel. Trudy ends up taking up the challenge and decides to travel to England to embark on the impossible.

As the co-star of the recent Star Wars Disney trilogy (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker), Daisy Ridley proved she was very charismatic and stoic on screen as a Jedi. With Sometimes I Think About Dying, she proved her talents even more as a lonely office worker, and with Young Woman and the Sea, she makes the iconic Gertrude Ederle very relatable, coming from a working-class immigrant family who holds dreams and passions to swim.

Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures

There are many obstacles she faces with her determination. We see her face being controlled by her father, then there is the misogyny Trudy must face from fellow male swimmers who attempt to undermine her potential, and even her new trainer, Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston), attempts to sabotage her first attempt at swimming across the English Channel.

The movie gets better and better once we get to the UK scenes. We also get great arcs in the film with Trudy’s parents, family, and fellow male swimmers, where they end up respecting her talents. Trudy ends up getting a new trainer, a talented sailor named Bill Burgess, who failed to swim the English Channel numerous times, but he ends up empowering Trudy to swim the channel once he realizes she is capable with her timing and strokes.

By the time we get to the third act—it’s quite an emotional journey that resonates with the impossible—we realize that this is a great human story about determination, and I hope many parents will watch this with their children, especially if they have daughters who are athletes. It’s an uplifting film about a titular athletic hero who defied all odds and expectations, and it never becomes cloying or sentimental. There is a stoicism to the approach and the performances are genuine and alive. Not only does Daisy Ridley deliver a superb performance, but it’s also a performance that once again shapes her as a positive role model on top of impressive her credentials as playing the female Jedi of Rey. I look forward to seeing what she does next in the near future.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA is now playing in limited theaters.