Young Woman and the Sea (2024)
Directed by: Joachim Rønning
Premise: Based on true events. In the early twentieth century, Trudy Ederle (Daisy Ridley) becomes a champion competitive swimmer and sets her sights on crossing the English Channel.
What Works: Disney has produced an entire line of diversity-themed sports films including Cool Runnings, Remember the Titans, Glory Road, and Million Dollar Arm. Young Woman and the Sea fits neatly into that subgenre and it successfully interweaves athletic achievement with an underdog story. The film is set in the early twentieth century and dramatizes Trudy Ederle making a name for herself while also legitimizing women’s sports. Better sports pictures link athleticism to some a larger idea and the dual struggle to win trophies and win equality for women fits together nicely. The filmmakers set up dual achievements in each set piece; swimming is repeatedly used as a way for Trudy to get what she wants. Sexism is dramatized in ways that are not subtle but are effective, provoking righteous indignation in the viewer and putting us on Trudy’s side. The strongest aspect of Young Woman and the Sea is its physicality. Swimming is not necessarily a fun sport to watch but the filmmakers find ways to convey the arduousness of distance swimming. Trudy’s swim across the English Channel does this quite well. The exposition sets up our understanding of the danger and unique challenges of her oceanic swim which then pays off during the journey. The film also has a notable supporting performance by Stephen Graham as swimmer Bill Burgess. Graham adds some humor and color to an otherwise staid production.
What Doesn’t: The key flaw of Young Woman and the Sea is its central character. Trudy Ederle is a cypher of a character. She doesn’t have much of an internal life and she’s portrayed as a rather bland and indistinct character. This isn’t the fault of actor Daisy Ridley who does what the film requires of her. But compare Trudy to the title characters of Rocky and Nyad and the deficit in characterization becomes clear. This weakens the drama. Trudy’s struggle to swim the English Channel is physical but not personal. The men of Young Woman and the Sea are consistently and narrowly sexist. Sexism is of course a real struggle but the film deals with it in a simplistic manner; the men are mustache twirling villains and the moviemakers fabricate historical incidents, such as Trudy being drugged midswim, to punch up that conflict.
Disc extras: Available on Disney+.
Bottom Line: Young Woman and the Sea is a solid Disney sports film. It does the formula well and gives the audience what they’ve come to expect from stories like this. It’s also a rather average dramatization of an extraordinary person.
Episode: #1008 (August 11, 2024)