Daisy Ridley gives a sterling performance as Trudy Ederle, who battled overwhelmed odds, in Joachim Rǿnning’s stirring, real-life drama, now streaming on Disney Plus.
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Try being Trudy Ederle, practically pronounced dead from measles at an early age. She survived, though she suffered poor hearing as a result of the illness. Nonetheless, she developed an affinity for the water and yearned to swim, something that young women of the era — the 1910s in New York — only did when attired from head to toe in proper, form-concealing outfits, and only occasionally, for light recreation, as they grew older and were deemed ready for an arranged marriage.
First published in 2009, Glenn Stout’s non-fiction book, Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World places Trudy Ederle’s accomplishment in historical context. The new screen adaptation, released to little fanfare at the end of May, provides the broad strokes of her life in the years between her near-fatal encounter with measles, through to her great achievement of swimming the English Channel, becoming the first woman to do so.
Directed by Joachim Rǿnning from a script by Jeff Nathanson — the duo previously worked together on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017), and Nathanson has contributed to the scripts for a number of other Disney productions — the film, now streaming on Disney Plus, feels like a natural for the streaming service, where its sumptuous visual effects, recreating the period lavishly, can be paused as needed in order to appreciate all the rich details.
At just a tad over two hours, Young Woman and the Sea never feels long, cramming multiple themes — discrimination against women, discrimination against Jews, strict cultural expectations about the role of men and women in society and in athletics — into its running time. Daisy Ridley fuels Trudy Ederde with great fire and energy, and her spirited, contagious performance is easy to watch and, frankly, inspiring and touching.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey imbues Meg, Trudy’s older sister, who is not quite as talented as Meg, yet remains steadfast in supporting her younger sibling. Jeanette Hein portrays their cautious, yet incredibly supportive, mother, while Kim Bodnia is wonderfully gruff but ultimately lovable as their butcher father.
The dependable Glenn Fleshler supplies grouchy charm as James Sullivan, who is initially slow to support Trudy’s dream of swimming the English Channel. The equally dependable Stephen Graham arrives in the nick of time to help Trudy out.
To be honest, I’d never heard of Trudy Ederle before this film, so I was glad to make her acquaintance. Even though the film changes around the timing of some important events, it feels true and fair to her legacy, which definitely deserves a greater, more lasting spotlight. [Disney Plus]
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