The Big Picture
Young Woman and the Sea
is a movie that brings a unique twist to the inspirational sports genre.- Daisy Ridley shines in a quietly powerful role, adding moments of genuine comedy to the film.
- The movie's inspiration is amplified by sticking closely to the true story of Gertrude Ederle's groundbreaking swim.
If you're a child of the '90s — and probably earlier, but I can't say for sure, I wasn't there — you're extremely familiar with the inspirational sports movie subgenre. A plucky underdog with a natural affinity for a sport is plucked from relative obscurity and brought to the forefront with a chance to shine. Their only obstacles? Self-doubt, society, and sometimes an antagonist in the form of that one person who just doesn't believe in them. It's a tried and true formula, one that makes for a comforting watch because we begin knowing how it ends, with the plucky underdog triumphant.
With this in mind, Joachim Rønning's Young Woman and the Sea neatly fits the bill of the inspirational sports drama, but puts a few key twists on the tried and true tropes. The result is a delightfully entertaining movie, spearheaded by a quietly powerful performance from Daisy Ridley, that brings to life a true story more people should know and one that they'll carry with them.
What Is 'Young Woman and the Sea' About?
Young Woman and the Sea, based on the book of the same name, tells the story of Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle (played by Ridley), who at the age of 21 became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Things are not nearly that simple for her, what with this being the 1920s, where the ideas of what a woman can do are restrictive, and the ideas of what is appropriate for a woman to do in the eyes of her immigrant community — German, in Trudy's case — are even more so. Of course, for all that her father Henry (Kim Bodnia) opposes her even learning to swim, much less swim competitively, Trudy has support in her corner in the form of her mother Gertrude (Jeanette Hain), sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), and her first swimming coach Charlotte Epstein (Sian Clifford).
Though the movie is ostensibly based on a true story, it dramatizes some of the major events in her life leading up to her successful crossing of the Channel. Because of course it does. People being vaguely terrible in a way you can't quite put your finger on or find a motivation for does not a compelling story arc make. The milestone moments of her journey from Olympian to the record-breaking swim across the channel are conformed around a traditional three act structure — and a sports movie structure, at that — but what makes it even more remarkable is that the film didn't change that much. Her first attempt at crossing was brought to a halt by Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston); the only thing the film adds is a more explicit motivation, one likely inferred from the true events anyway. The scale of her accomplishment, the challenges she faced, and the reception after the fact become that much more remarkable to watch when you realize very little of it was exaggerated for the sake of Hollywood.
'Young Woman and the Sea' Puts an Inspirational Twist on the Sports Movie
For the most part, I enjoy watching sports movies, whether based on a true story (A League of Their Own, Cool Runnings) or not (Karate Kid, Bend it Like Beckham) — and yes, I'm aware those examples are really showing my age — but the one bit that never quite resonated with me is the idea that casual interest in a sport could lead to championship-level performance. I'm not a natural athlete. Anything I can do well, I have managed through an intense amount of time and effort. Young Woman and the Sea is the first time I saw that particular experience reflected back at me.
None of this is to put down other sports movies with similar arcs or to suggest they don't show how difficult it is to play a sport well. That's simply not the story they're telling. The true difficulty there lies in something beyond the sport, with the training helping the protagonists overcome whatever else they need to. Trudy, too, faces challenges beyond the sport: those aforementioned ideas of what is or isn't proper for a woman in the 1920s. But her task in overcoming the naysayers is inextricably linked with her need to improve and become a proficient swimmer.
Trudy enjoys swimming. She loves it and thinks she's great at it. But that belief in her own raw talent doesn't stand up to even the most modest of scrutiny once she tries swimming with her local women's swim team. She can stay afloat, she can move herself through the water, but the cutting efficiency required to race, or to hold your own against changing currents isn't there. She has absolutely no finesse and hasn't picked up any through natural athletic intuition.But she's strong, she's determined, and she's willing to learn. The first half of her training montage isn't even her improving at her sport, it's her learning to do it properly in the first place.
Daisy Ridley Embodies Trudy Ederle in Both Emotion and Physicality
As the titular "young woman," the entirety of the movie rests on Daisy Ridley's shoulders. The supporting cast are wonderful, of course, and each brings a different energy to their interactions with Trudy that helps the overall story feel well-rounded. But without a strong performer as Trudy at the heart of it all, the whole movie would have fallen apart. Fortunately, Ridley carries the whole thing with the kind of quiet power that, to me, is one of her many hallmarks as an actor.
Trudy has a support system — coaches, her family, fellow competitors — but swimming is by and large a solitary sport. As a result, Ridley spends a lot of the movie alone. Even in scenes where Trudy is around her family or friends, she comes across as serious and reserved. Not a bad thing by any means, especially since Ridley so successfully carries the bulk of her emotional performance on her face and in her body language. Her love for her family is never in doubt, she just finds other ways to show it, especially when it comes to her sister Meg, who is her closest confidante, and an early inspiration of hers.
Anyone who has ever seen Ridley in interviews knows that she has quite a sunny personality and a delightful sense of humor. While most of the movie is fairly serious, Jeff Nathanson's script does provide many opportunities for comedy, largely from Stephen Graham's oddly chaotic Bill Burgess. But there are moments for Ridley, too, to show off just how funny she is, including one line delivered with an incredulous innocence that also hints at a suppressed dark side, that had me laughing out loud — something I rarely do when watching a movie alone.
Beyond the emotional is the sheer physical nature of the role. I used to swim a lot when I was younger. I nearly swam competitively if I hadn't been hindered by my sheer inability to dive off the diving board with anything resembling finesse or technique. Under Rønning's direction, and cinematography from Oscar Faura, Ridley's physical performance truly captures how tiring, yet exhilarating swimming can be. You can almost feel the water rushing past, feel the ache in your arms, and your lungs. It's the type of performance that draws you so fully into the sport it exhausts you just to watch, but also makes you want to get up, get out there, and swim the Channel yourself.
'Young Woman and the Sea' Feels in Conversation With Star Wars
A scene towards the midpoint of the movie comes to mind when considering the future impact of Young Woman and the Sea, where Trudy is approached by three young girls who followed her progress at the Olympics and want to be just like her when they're older. Though Ridley's filmography extends far beyond the Star Wars movies that launched her into superstardom, it's hard as a viewer — particularly one who adores Rey as much as I do — to not see a parallel there.
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Ridley makes a meal of this dark madcap of a movie that all rides on her shoulders.
Ridley's turn as the lead of a trilogy of Star Wars films welcomed a new generation of kids, girls in particular, who may not have seen themselves in the story otherwise, or who may not have resonated as much with the earlier stories. It's hard to imagine Young Woman and the Sea not having a similar impact. A late spring release means it's perfect timing for younger audiences to express interest in swimming lessons, or even just swimming for fun. If audiences walk away from Young Woman and the Sea with not only an appreciation for all that Trudy Ederle was, but a desire to explore the sport that brought her so much joy, I can think of few better legacies to leave behind.
REVIEW
Young Woman and the Sea
Young Woman and the Sea puts its own twist on the inspirational sports movie, with a powerful turn from Daisy Ridley.
- Young Woman and the Sea puts a unique twist on the underdog story, showing how hard sports can be.
- Daisy Ridley shines in a quietly powerful role, with moments of genuine comedy.
- The movie is made more inspirational by how close it sticks to the truth.
Young Woman and the Sea swims into theaters on May 31 in the U.S. Click below for showtimes near you.
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