After a botched limited theatrical release, Joachim Rønning’s Young Woman and the Sea is now available for all to view on Disney+. Strangely enough, the film never received any theatrical footprint in Canada, the next-door neighbor to the United States, and was announced as a ‘Disney+ Original’ when it made its way to the streaming service in July. With so many large-scale Disney productions hitting cinemas, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a mid-budget drama by the studio released this way.
The story of Trudy Ederle (Daisy Ridley) certainly warrants the big screen treatment, and certainly not the release approach Disney undertook with the film. Only select few cinemas in New York and Los Angeles screened it, leaving every other venue dry when it could’ve made a sizable return. Of course, not on the same level as Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2, but a return to mid-budget fare for Disney would diversify the programming when it’s been nothing but lazy retreads, legacy sequels, and, now, generative-AI-driven slop.
And when the studio has a profoundly humanist film made with as much passion as possible, they would rather shelve it to their streaming service and release it in just a few cinemas to qualify for Awards consideration. It’s a shameless practice that will hopefully cease to exist as studios will be forced to expand their theatrical runs starting next year. But Daisy Ridley deserved better, especially after the treatment she received coming out of the Star Wars sequel trilogy (yes, they announced another Rey-centered film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, but let’s be honest, that movie’s never coming out).
Young Woman and the Sea does not reinvent the wheel. And it will certainly be compared to Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Nyad, a movie in which its titular character attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. In the case of Young Woman and the Sea, Ederle wants to become the first woman to swim across the English channel, from France to England, a journey so treacherous only two people successfully crossed it with no injuries. But unlike Diana Nyad, who seemingly wants to do it for vanity (that’s what the film depicts this journey as, and it gets even more problematic when you research the actual person behind the swim), Ederle’s journey is painstakingly difficult even before her swim begins.
She not only has massive health challenges, after an almost fatal bout with Measles rendered her pretty much deaf, but no man wants to teach a woman how to swim. In one of the most striking sequences of the film, a young Trudy (played with aplomb by Olivia Abercrombie) asks her mother (Jeanette Hain) why so many women perished on a boat explosion and stayed on top of the ship. Her answer shocks her to her core: “They couldn’t swim.” The men didn’t think it appropriate to teach them how to swim, which could’ve saved their lives in such a situation. It’s in that moment where Trudy wants to learn to swim, even if her father (Kim Bodnia) forbids it.
She will have to wait many more years with her sister, Meg (Tilda Cobham-Harvey), to seriously (and secretly) learn to swim properly under the tutelage of Charlotte Epstein (Sian Clifford). After Trudy not only beats her sister but begins to set records within her city, and around the world, the American Olympic Union approaches her to represent the United States for the first time in Paris, promising her the world should she win a gold medal. However, coach Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston) has a hidden agenda and does not want to see women compete nationally. He prevents them from training while they are on board a ship to Paris, and, as a result, hampers their performance at the Olympics.
Ederle’s dream has all but crushed, until she decides to cross the channel after viewing a film which saw Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham) successfully attempt it. Unfortunately for her, the Olympic Union will only finance it if she agrees to train with Wolffe, who has attempted to cross the Channel many times but never succeeded. He is determined to make Trudy fail, whilst nothing will stop the swimmer from pursuing her dream and break boundaries as the first woman to pave the way for more athletes to showcase their innate talents.
Through the careful lens of cinematographer Oscar Faura, who already crafted some impeccable water-driven sequences with J.A Bayona in The Impossible and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Trudy’s journey is an often thrilling, and harrowing tale of courage and determination. One such scene sees her having to plow through an entire area with jellyfish, and only her willingness to push through as she gets stung repeatedly keeps her awake until she’s freed. Faura’s camera acts as the ultimate guide throughout this journey, carefully moving sideways as we see Trudy overcome all physical and mental adversity to prove herself – and the world – that she is more than able to defy all expectations.
Perhaps some of the night scenes are a bit too dark and less clean compared to Claudio Miranda’s work in Nyad, but it contains no distracting CGI renderings of the Taj Mahal, and artificial green screens. But it’s that grittiness that enhances our journey with Trudy, because she doesn’t shy away from being imperfect and showcasing the challenges she must endure to cross the channel. That’s why the camera often blurs itself up, or focuses solely on her introspective thoughts as she prepares to pull off a feat of superhuman derring-do. Each visual effect in the film seems minimal, and the impact we get is an ultimately far more realistic approach to swimming than Miranda’s unfortunate flashy sense of style in Nyad, which pales in comparison to the work he does with director Joseph Kosinski, the best director/cinematographer collaboration we currently have.
Of course, none of this would have worked without a rock-solid lead performance from Daisy Ridley, doing career-best work here. As emotionally powerful as the movie can be, her portrayal of Trudy shines the brightest when Rønning focuses on her contemplative thoughts, freed from the shackles of the misogynist society she lives in, and knowing she has it in her to prove to everyone that women have a place in society. One must understand the context in which the film depicts to know how difficult it was for Trudy to prove herself, and to have done it in such a way is more than inspirational because it ensured a world in which women would not have to fight to be accepted in society, and paved the way for some of the most groundbreaking athletes in all disciplines to show themselves.
Ridley showcases this remarkable journey through a mostly silent and introspective performance, one far more difficult and ultimately rewarding than her turn as Rey in Star Wars. She’s joined by an equally impressive supporting cast, who never stray away from the challenges Trudy had to endure, whether from her family herself or from the misogynist society that attempts to stop her from doing what she loves the most (Eccleston’s Jabez Wolffe is an extravagant character, but his boisterous exterior can’t hide his innate sexism towards Trudy, constantly belittling her in subtle ways and going so far as to spike her tea to ensure she can’t cross the channel).
As a result, it’s not hard to love Young Woman and the Sea. Handsomely crafted and beautifully presented, the movie seems to be the only Disney production made this year with soul and humanism behind and in front of the camera. You can tell from how carefully calculated Faura’s lens is, and how it responds to the work Ridley does on screen. It may not be a movie that reinvents the wheel of biographical sports movies, but it’s one that will sure reignite your faith in the fact that Disney can indeed make quality family entertainment, as they did in the past, if they can set their hearts and minds to it.
Young Woman and the Sea is now streaming on Disney+.
Learn more about the film, including how to watch, at the Disney+ website.
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