Young Woman and the Sea review

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA: 

DAISY RIDLEY GOES FOR THE GOLD IN STELLAR BIOPIC! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

DISNEY

Daisy Ridley in Young Woman and the Sea

 

            Daisy Ridley (Star Wars franchise, Murder on the Orient Express (2017), The Marsh King’s Daughter) trades in her lightsaber for a swim cap and goggles in Young Woman and the Sea, the latest film from Joachim Rønning (Kon-Tiki, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) and based on the true story of American swimmer, Trudy Ederle who became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. 

            The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun 1 and 2, Armageddon, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise) and released by Disney as another one of their inspirational sports biopics like Remember the Titans, The Rookie, and Miracle. It was also originally going to be a Disney+ release but due to positive test screenings it was put into theaters. 

             This is a rare Jerry Bruckheimer-produced Disney movie where not once did I see a trailer for it in theaters and my only acknowledgement of it coming out was seeing the poster in theater lobbies until finally watching the trailer online a couple days ago. So, Young Woman and the Sea could have easily flown under my radar and I’m grateful it didn’t because this movie is superb. 

            For a movie that I went into mostly blindly nor was I an expert on the subject matter, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Young Woman and the Sea and easily ranks it among Disney’s best sports biopics. A lot of that is because of Daisy Ridley’s performance as Trudy Ederle who pretty much carries the entire movie, but more on that later. 

            The film is set in 1920s New York City and follows Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle (Ridley), an American swim champion who first won a gold medal during the 1924 Olympic Games. Through the steadfast support of her older sister, Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey-52 Tuesdays, Hotel Mumbai, I Am Woman) and her trainers, Trudy overcame adversity and the animosity of a patriarchal society as she completes a staggering achievement of swimming a 21-mile trek from France to England across the English Channel thus becoming the first woman to do so. 

            The film also stars Christopher Eccleston (Gone in 60 Seconds, The Others, Thor: The Dark World) as Trudy’s trainer Jabez Wolffe, Stephen Graham (Snatch, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and 5, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) as Bill Burgess, Kim Bodnia (Rosewater, Killing Eve, The Witcher) as Trudy’s father Henry Ederle, Jeanette Hain (The Reader, The Young Victoria, Never Look Away) as Trudy’s mother Gertrude Anna Ederle, Glenn Fleshler (All Good Things, A Most Violent Year, Joker) as James Sullivan, and Sian Clifford (Fleabag, See How They Run, Chevalier) as Trudy’s swimming coach Charlotte. 

            Overall, Young Woman and the Sea is a well-crafted and inspiring biopic without ever coming off as formulaic in its execution. Sure, a movie about a female swimmer doing the unthinkable by swimming a great length is nothing new after all Anette Bening did the same thing last year in Nyad, but this film does a superb job standing on its own as simply another movie about a swimmer with an insane goal and accomplishing it in the end. 

            Both this and Nyad are handled spectacularly well while also having quite a bit of differences to set them apart with the most obvious being Young Woman and the Sea’s time period. Since it’s set in patriarchal 1920s America when women didn’t have the same rights as men and the idea of a woman achieving this long swim was seen as absurd, this was a huge deal for Trudy to prove everyone wrong that a woman is just as capable of pulling it off as a man and proved them wrong she did thus it wasn’t just a win for herself but for women in general. 

            There is never a dull moment during this movie and you’re always on the edge of your seat as Trudy swims while fighting off patriarchy and jellyfish. Even the scenes involving Trudy’s family drama are interesting because of how stellar the actors’ performances are. 

            I’ve always enjoyed Daisy Ridley as an actress and will stand by that she was the best thing about Rey in the Star Wars movies, this might be the best I’ve ever seen from her. Ridley does an effective job being charming especially in a touching scene where she’s speaking to a young girl, but when she needs to bring the passion and determination she is 100% on in every scene she’s in, this is the kind of sports movie protagonist that makes me want to stand up and cheer. 

            Besides Ridley, Kim Bodnia whose work I’m not extremely familiar with as Trudy’s father I thought was an equally huge standout in the film. He starts off as this grumpy and stern curmudgeon whose beliefs are very old-fashioned, but as the film goes on and Trudy begins her English Channel swim, he goes through an arc and turns out to be the character that makes the biggest change by accepting and supporting his daughter’s dreams and goals in some truly heartfelt moments. 

            The swimming sequences are well-shot and at times exhilarating though unlike Nyad, these ones are dreary and bleak in terms of how they’re filmed. But like Nyad, probably the most suspenseful scene is when Trudy encounters a large group of jellyfish and has to swim through them in an adrenaline-pumped sequence that left me on the edge of my seat. 

            Young Woman and the Sea is an empowering, feel-good sports biopic without becoming overly shmaltzy or formulaic and a welcome return to classic Disney sports dramas. Thanks to its incredible cast, solid direction from Rønning, and affectionate handling of the subject matter, it’s sure to be an entertaining and uplifting trip to the movies regardless of your knowledge of the fact-based story.