Susan Granger’s review of “Young Woman and the Sea” (Disney+)
With the rapid rise of interest in women’s sports and to tie in with the 2024 Paris Olympics, “Young Woman and the Sea” is uniquely timely, relating how Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel back in 1926.
Born in New York City in 1905 to traditional immigrant German parents, Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle was a sickly child, almost succumbing to measles. She was raised in an era when girls were not allowed to swim because it was considered too strenuous.
As teenagers on Coney Island, Trudy (Daisy Ridley) and her older sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) defied their dictatorial butcher father (Kim Bodnia) in their desire to learn to swim, aided by their determined mother (Jeanette Hain) who was afraid they might someday drown.
Descending to a tiny, indoor pool in a basement boiler room, they learned the 28-stroke American crawl from no-nonsense coach Lottie Epstein (Sian Clifford). Girls were not allowed to compete in public until an Australian team arrived in Manhattan and Trudy was able to demonstrate her remarkable ability in the water.
“To me, the sea is like a person – like a child I’ve known a long time,” Ederle once said. “I’ve never felt alone when I’m out there. Her perennial theme song was the 1921 hit “Ain’t We Got Fun.”
Stubbornly defying the rampant sexism that surrounded her, the rest, as they say, is history, culminating in Trudy’s courageous 21-mile crossing from coastal France to Dover, England – beating off thousands of stinging red jellyfish – in 14 hours, 31 minutes, besting the world record previously set by men.
Based on sportswriter Glenn Stout’s biography of the same name, it’s adapted by screenwriter Jeff Nathanson (“Catch Me If You Can”) and deftly directed by Norway’s Joachim Renning (“Kon-Tiki”).
Filmed entirely in Bulgaria on sound stages at Nu Boyuana Studios and on various Black Sea coastline locations, the remarkable cinematography is attributed to Oscar Faura (“The Impossible”).
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Young Woman and the Sea” is an uplifting, inspiring 7, streaming on Disney+.
