Young Woman and the Sea (2024)

Synopsis

It’s 1914, in a predominantly German enclave of New York City. After surviving a near-death bout with measles, young Trudy Ederle is inspired to learn to swim when she hears hundreds of women died in a ferry catastrophe because they were too scared to escape into the water. She can convince her tradition-bound father to allow her and sister Meg to learn to swim only by being the biggest possible nuisance around the house.

After some comical early lessons from her father, mother Gertrude (Jeanette Hain) convinces scrappy women’s coach Charlotte ‘Eppy’ Epstein (Sian Clifford) to take the girls on. Under Eppy’s disciplined tutelage, the grown-up Trudy (Daisy Ridley) and sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) become accomplished swimmers. Trudy starts awkwardly but eventually surpasses Meg to become a record-setter, earning her an invite to the 1924 Paris Olympics.

To be taken seriously, Trudy must excel beyond expectations, particularly when she sets her sights on becoming the first woman to swim the English Channel.

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Be prepared for frustration and anger as you witness the obstacles arrayed in front of women in general, and Trudy in particular, during this period just a century past. It is frustrating and angering to see her endure her sponsor’s condescending attitude, her father’s assumption that she and Meg’s primary path in life will be to marry nice German boys of his choosing, and the hostility (and perhaps sabotage) of jealous trainers. One can only imagine that what is depicted here is far less than the reality of the era.

You know of course that, like Nyad before it, this biopic about the real-life Ederle has a predetermined finish. Still, the filmmakers weave a heartwarming tale around the entire Ederle family as their support ebbs and flows with Trudy’s setbacks and triumphs. It is refreshing also that the screenplay reportedly hews close to the original source biography and the life of the real Ederle, with only a few non-sensational deviations.

Ridley is inspiring and buoyant as the determined and driven young woman who must struggle against the currents of the time that try to drag her back into her place. Her performance is balanced and modulated as the young woman who is never rude, but still willing to look the non-believers in the eye and declare her intentions. And then doggedly follow through.

Still, the standout performance belongs to Jeanette Hain as mother Gertrude, who wants more for her girls than the world wants for them. Her telling glances from the corners of the action, her occasionally sharp tongue, and her looks of amazement and joy are all touching and memorable.

Though the ending is never in doubt, Trudy’s push through seemingly unconquerable final barriers still gives us moments of worry. The pains and exhaustion of the real-life Trudy must have been even more frightful.