MOVIE REVIEW – When Trudy Ederle swam across the English Channel in 1926, New York City threw the biggest parade in its history to honor her. As the first woman to complete this feat, Ederle paved the way for the future of women’s sports. But why isn’t she a household name? The new biopic on MAX, “Young Woman and the Sea,” seeks to address this question and reestablish Ederle as an iconic figure.

This inspiring sports biopic brings us back to the world of underdog stories we love, like “Rudy,” but with a girl-power twist and a woman-versus-nature theme. Daisy Ridley portrays the determined and sunny Trudy, and the film features a charming and heartfelt supporting cast. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, it evokes the triumphant and emotional spirit of films like “Remember the Titans” and “Glory Road.”

Dive In

Norwegian director Joachim Rønning brings Trudy’s life to the screen with a script by Jeff Nathanson, adapted from Glenn Stout’s 2009 book, “Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World.” Rønning and co-director Espen Sandberg previously made the ocean adventure film “Kon-Tiki,” which could just as well have been titled “Young Men and the Sea.” These filmmakers clearly have a knack for capturing maritime adventures and the human drive to conquer the seas.

However, delving deeper into the story reveals much more than a young woman’s extraordinary, dangerous, and challenging athletic achievement. While Trudy swims across the channel, a brilliant subplot unfolds, highlighting larger ideas and movements inspired by Trudy’s story. Boats filled with reporters follow her, tossing bottles containing their written messages into the water. These messages are retrieved by carrier pigeons that deliver them to a French hotel in Cap Gris-Nez, where they are read aloud and transmitted via telegram to radio stations worldwide, updating Trudy’s anxious family in New York City. This isn’t just the story of a young woman doing the impossible—it’s a mass media event connecting a newly globalized world.

Riding the Waves

This representational burden is ever-present in “Young Woman and the Sea.” Trudy knows that her visibility will change the world, not just the act of swimming the channel. Her coach, Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston), imposed by her sponsor James Sullivan (Glenn Fleshler), forces her to diet, worrying about how she’ll look in photographs; her two-piece swimsuit, redesigned for comfort, causes a sensation in the French press. But it is her stardom that makes her a hero to young girls asking for her autograph amid the crowd of reporters, giving her the potential to change the trajectory of women’s sports.

Trudy’s swim inspires the entire world, including her hometown of New York City, where the immigrant-filled tenements listen to her journey on the radio. It’s a reminder of how we are drawn to stories of human striving and triumph. From Sunday football to the Olympic Games, sharing these stories binds us together. This summer’s Paris Olympics mark the centennial anniversary of the Games in which Trudy competed in 1924.

The broad storytelling harkens back to a kind of nostalgic filmmaking based on pure sensation and emotion, where we cheer for the heroes and boo the villains. Some characterizations lack nuance. Eccleston and Fleshler play essentially evil, mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash types, whose overtly malicious motives for sabotaging Trudy remain unexplored. However, not all men feel threatened by her endeavor. She wins over other swimmers with her tenacity, including the iconic channel swimmer Bill Burgess (a standout Stephen Graham), who eventually becomes her coach.

Stellar Cast

Among the excellent supporting cast are Trudy’s German immigrant parents. Danish actor Kim Bodnia plays her father, a gruff, protective, yet ultimately supportive butcher. German actress Jeanette Hain delivers a standout performance as Trudy’s steely, determined mother, Gertrud. She insists her daughters, Trudy and her sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), learn to swim after a steamboat tragedy that claimed the lives of hundreds of women, declaring that her daughters will never be stranded on a burning ship. Yet, Gertrud also discovers that empowering them leads to glories—and dangers—she never imagined.

Rønning’s style here exhibits an old-fashioned yet modern beauty and grandeur, meticulously executed. The sweeping, epic camera work by Oscar Faura and efficient editing by Úna Ní Dhonghaíle are remarkable. Accompanied by Amelia Warner’s triumphant score, there’s a hint of “Pirates of the Caribbean” playfulness in the powerful orchestration, enhancing the melodramatic effect.

Ultimately, this is a tale of a young woman and the sea, and Daisy Ridley compellingly inhabits Trudy’s experience. Strip away all the reporters, the doubters, the concerned family members, the coaches, her beloved sister, and everyone watching from around the world. In the darkness of night, it’s just Trudy, alone in the ocean, and this story of perseverance is worth celebrating and remembering.

-Herpai Gergely “BadSector”-