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YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA
Director: Joachim Rønning Cast: Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Jeanette Hain, Kim Bodina, Stephen Graham, Christopher Eccleston, Sian Clifford, Glenn Fleshler, Olive Abercrombie, Lilly Aspell MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:09 Release Date: 5/31/24 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | May 30, 2024 Once the main character sets her sights on swimming across the English Channel, it won't come as any surprise how the story of Young Woman and the Sea ends. Even those who have forgotten or never learned about Gertrude Ederle will figure out what happens, because there'd be little point in making a movie about a failed attempt to cross that relatively narrow but still dangerous passage. That Ederle's story has been more or less lost to history, though, is a good enough reason to dramatize her story, almost a century after her first-of-its-kind accomplishment. Director Joachim Rønning's movie is somewhat worthwhile simply because of that goal. It's a compelling true-life tale about a young woman who refuses to listen to the doubters, those who want and actively work to see her fail, and even the protests of her own body in order to do what she loves. At a time when women's sports are gradually gaining ground in the public eye and consciousness, here's a reminder that women like Ederle have always been here, making or breaking records and proving that women can do what their male counterparts do—sometimes better, in fact by way of objective measurement, as well. The movie, adapted from Glenn Stout's non-fiction book by screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, earns a lot of good will by putting Ederle's story in that context. As played by Daisy Ridley, Trudy, as the character goes by, keeps being told she can't do one thing or another. It begins with a prologue during her childhood in the 1910s, after a young Trudy (played by Olive Abercrombie) has contracted measles. The doctor is certain she will die in the night, and as the girl's family waits for the doctor to come downstairs with the tragic news, they're surprise the sound of footsteps are coming from Trudy, who has recovered and now just wants some food. From there, the girl is encouraged to swim by her mother Gertrud (Jeanette Hain), who insists her two daughters learn to do so after hearing about a ferry accident in which hundreds of people—mostly women—died, because they feared the water, not knowing how to swim, more than the flames on the boat. Trudy's father Henry (Kim Bodnia), a butcher, objects, but he can't say no to his wife or his daughter, especially as she starts growing up and refuses to stop swimming. The broad outline of this story is exactly what one might expect from a respectful and respectable biography. Trudy moves from amateur to professional through a series of montages. She begins winning races and setting local, state, national, and world records by way of assorted headlines. At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, her swimming career is basically sabotaged by a coach named Wolfe (Christopher Eccleston), who's more worried about the women fraternizing with men than their need to train before an international competition. The idea of trying to swim across the Channel comes after seeing a newsreel of various successful and failed attempts, almost egged on by a reward by a London newspaper for whichever man could pull off what only five other men had by that point. Ridley is cheerfully determined in this role, and the little mischievous look she offers at seeing the word "man" repeated over and over in the text of that challenge gets at the core of the character, as well as the story the movie is telling beneath the biographical beats. That story is, ultimately, too focused on events and setting up inevitable payoffs to really dig into the character, a society that wholly dismisses women, and the real impact of Ederle's career and life beyond the broadest of terms. For what the filmmakers doing, though, it's mostly successful within its limited terms. Take Trudy's first public race against local teammates from an underground swim club for women and an Australian squad of Olympic athletes. Rønning allows the entire race to play out in real time, starting with Trudy slipping on the diving board and watching as she steadily gains on the competition—flashes of a bright smile appearing over the water with each alternate stroke. It matters that we get to see it all, after everything Trudy has gone through and every discouraging word she has heard to get to this place. The sequence is just solid drama, executed with complete trust in the material. A similar sentiment can be aimed at the depiction of Trudy's Channel swim. It amounts to two swims, technically—the first under the coaching of Wolfe, whose petty jealousy (He has attempted the crossing, too, and been unsuccessful each time) and chauvinistic beliefs come to a head, and the second with the guidance of Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham), who understands Trudy's need to swim and respects her as a fellow athlete. The dual sequences make the physical (swimming through a bloom of jellyfish) and psychological (being completely alone in the darkness) trials of the swim pain. If the suspense and conflicts of the crossing are slightly undermined by Rønning having to intercut the attempts with external character and story threads, that's part of the key issue here. Young Woman and the Sea too often forgets that this is Trudy's story, her struggle, and her accomplishment. Everything and everyone around her are important, yes, but secondary to who she is and what the real Ederle did on her own. Copyright © 2024 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for thematic elements, some language and partial nudity)
