Trudy Ederle isn't what you'd call a celebrity, but she might soon be, thanks to Daisy Ridley playing a competitive swimmer in the inspiring new film “The Sea of Youth.”
In August 1926, 19-year-old New Yorker Trudy Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel. Only five men had previously completed the 21-mile journey from Cap Gris Nes in France to Kingsdown Beach in England. It was a grueling journey through frigid waters, unpredictable tides, currents, and swarms of jellyfish. Ederle swam 35 miles that day, still beating their record by about two hours.
Don't worry if you don't recognize her. Ederle isn't exactly a household name, but she might soon be thanks to Daisy Ridley. She plays a competitive swimmer in the inspiring new film Young Woman and the Sea. It's a classically made, effectively moving sports drama that works for the big screen and is enjoyable for everyone. Families with young daughters should make this a priority. It's one of those powerful stories that (mostly) avoids saccharine clichés.
Just don't use this film to write your school report or show off your newfound knowledge of Ederle to your friends at the Summer Olympics party. Written by Jeff Nathanson and directed by Joachim Rønning, the film takes considerable liberties with important details about Ederle's historic swim; it even ignores the fact that she won gold in the 400m freestyle relay at the 1924 Paris Olympics. While The Girl and the Sea does emphasize the high expectations placed on Ederle, who set over a dozen women's swimming records, she only managed to win a bronze medal herself.
They intended to not let facts get in the way of the truth; or, more accurately, a neat story with a balanced emotional ending. If you want the whole story, the film is based on Glenn Stout's exhaustive research and is adapted from the widely available book, “Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World.” But we don't go to the cinema for a history lesson; we go for entertainment.
The story portrays Ederle as a German immigrant child who survived, overcame measles, and defied the odds to grow up to be a standout athlete. By 1920, white women were beginning to make progress in sports like tennis and swimming, but were still held to strict standards of “femininity.” Remember the etiquette class in A League of Their Own? In that film, Trudy is assigned a misogynistic coach more concerned with isolating her from men and feeding her a posh diet of fruit than with actually helping her succeed with proper nutrition and advice.
Nathanson's script places particular emphasis on the relationships between Trudy, also a swimmer, her sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), and their mother (Janet Hayne), who insists on her daughters learning to swim and keeps them enrolled in lessons with dedicated instructor Lottie Epstein (Sian Clifford).
Epstein's positive impact on Trudy is emphasized, but the fact that she led the women's swimming teams at three Olympic Games in the 1920s is ignored in favor of casting her as a male antagonist. To be charitable, this is a shorthand way of revealing the very real sexism they all faced, and in doing so, it also erases Epstein's actual achievements. The film is very, very white-centric, but it does feature one black swimmer who bonds with Edel as they train for the Straits.
But then again, the broader history is there for the curious, and is a story in itself that will keep you hooked. A lot of it has to do with Ridley, who has been blessed with the least memorable roles outside of Star Wars. As an executive producer on Young Woman and the Sea, she is perhaps signaling a new phase of her career where she has more control over things. Trudy Ederle was a great choice, a perfect blend of actor and character, showing a side we never saw in Rey.
Hits like this one are a stark reminder that cinema has only just scratched the surface of the fascinating history of women in competitive sports — and it's probably no coincidence that some of these films have become classics — but after this and “Nyad,” open-water swimming might be able to take a breather.
“Young Woman and the Sea,” which Walt Disney Pictures releases in theaters Friday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for “subject matter, some language and partial nudity.” Running time: 129 minutes. Three out of four stars.
