“I came all this way. Might as well see England.” - Trudy Ederle in ‘Young Woman and the Sea’
By Hunter V Norris
Updated: 8 hours ago
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A film almost a century in the making…
Young Woman and the Sea tells the true story of Gertrude ‘Trudy’ Ederle (Daisy Ridley), a world record breaking competitive swimmer in the 1920′s. In a world and sport dominated by men, Trudy is determined to overcome all odds and show everyone what she’s capable of by becoming the first woman to swim across the English Channel.
Young Woman and the Sea is your classic underdog story containing most of the tropes you would expect from a sports biopic. We have a stubborn, iron-willed protagonist who is trying to prove everybody wrong, all while their friends, family, and colleagues offer varying amounts of support, or lack thereof. They have their ups and downs, but overall, are able to make a name for themselves in the history books.
While Trudy Ederle’s story is incredibly inspirational, Young Woman and the Sea is unfortunately all quite surface level in its telling of her tale. We follow Trudy surviving measles as a child, which causes hearing loss (this doesn’t cause really… any conflict in the movie), learning how to swim, joining competitions, competing in the 1924 Olympics, and eventually finally going up against the currents of the English Channel.
Sounds like a great story, but there’s not much to it. The only reason Trudy wants to swim the English Channel so bad is because everyone is telling her she can’t or shouldn’t. I suppose that’s as good of a reason as any, but aside from wanting to prove herself, it doesn’t go much deeper into why she has such an insatiable desire to swim and become the best of them all.
When somebody is crossing such vast, treacherous waters with only their own body, that’s an astonishing feat that doesn’t just take a toll on the body, but on the mind. While Trudy is facing her various trials and tribulations, it would have been welcome to have some more introspection into her mindset.
Perhaps you could have some narration, or maybe she hallucinates and has existential moments while in the water. While I now know the story of Trudy Ederle, which is really the most important thing about this movie, I feel like I didn’t learn much about her as a person.
Daisy Ridley gives a committed performance and carries the film well enough, despite not having a whole lot to work with. She has a very natural, warm charm with her acting, especially in the eyes. You could feel her raw sense of determination in every scene and she’s just as fierce as she is reserved.
Similar to her character Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Ridley plays another woman who is trying to desperately find out where she belongs in the world, while everybody else thinks they know what’s best for her. So, you get a mixture between her being quiet and forlorn, and loud and aggressive.
This is all a somewhat decent showcase of Ridley’s talents and I’m happy Disney gave her another shot in a lead role, but like the Star Wars sequel trilogy, she’s once again dealt a poor hand by getting a character without much meat on the bone. She clearly has a lot of talent and if she worked with a director like Yorgos Lanthimos or Robert Eggers, she could really shine.
The rest of the cast is solid and work well together, particularly Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Trudy’s sister Margaret, who Ridley has great sisterly chemistry with. One refreshing aspect was that it seems like there’s going to be conflict in their relationship, as Margaret is originally seen as the swimmer in the family and is then passed over for Trudy, but instead, she’s just a supportive sibling the whole time.
I enjoyed the first half of the movie more than the second. When Trudy is training and coming up in the world of competitive swimming, it moves along at a fun, brisk pace. Director Joachim Rønning keeps things moving and interesting with varied camera movements, while editor Úna Ní Dhonghaíle employs some great tricks to make it all flow, employing some excellent match cuts and transitions.
The second half, which features two different English Channel swimming sequences is where it really seemed to drag. When what your character is doing is just swimming with a boat next to them occasionally tossing them food and yelling words of encouragement, it’s really not the most exciting thing ever (although it’s all quite nice to look at, courtesy of cinematographer Oscar Faura).
As expected from an uplifting Disney sports biopic, some scenes during the final act end up getting a bit too saccharine for their own good, sometimes straining credibility. Leaky goggles and swimming through a school of jellyfish I can buy. Trudy’s mother Gertrud (Jeanette Hain) hearing every single person in the neighborhood rushing to turn on their radios across the city in the middle of the night to listen to the broadcast of her swimming? That’s a bit too much for me.
Young Woman and the Sea is no doubt an inspirational tale. My heart strings were sufficiently tugged at the end, but that was mostly because I was genuinely amazed by Trudy Ederle’s story and the impact it had on the United States and woman’s sports at the time. If you told me last week that a swimmer had the largest parade for an athlete in the history of New York City, I would have rolled my eyes.
It’s just a slight disappointment, because it all could have been much more than just a straightforward retelling of an athlete’s incredible feat. I may have left felling inspired, but also felt a little empty.
However, I and millions of others will now know the story of Trudy Ederle and how she became one of the most impactful and influential athletes of all time, and that’s definitely worth something.
Young Woman and the Sea will open in limited theaters nationwide on Friday, May 31st.
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