Disney’s inspiring ‘Sea’ barely goes the distance
The unabashedly saccharine “Young Woman and the Sea” is a 129-minute stream of treacle that ticks off every sports movie cliche imaginable in telling the remarkable tale of swimming pioneer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle.
Never heard of her? You’re not alone. And in that respect, this Jerry Bruckheimer offering – making the leap from theaters to Disney Plus this weekend – is noteworthy for bringing well-deserved attention to Ederle, who was at risk of becoming a historical footnote. And that would be a travesty considering she was the Babe Ruth of women’s aquatics.
Judge for yourself. Here’s her resume: grew up the youngest daughter of an immigrant butcher in New York City, where after overcoming a near-fatal bout of measles entered competitive swimming at the tender age of12 and proceeded to smash multiple world records and earn three Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4×100 relay in 1924, before becoming the first woman to traverse the English Channel in 1926. Oh, and she suffered from progressive hearing loss due to her childhood illness. Impressive, right?
It’s that English Channel thing to which “Young Woman and the Sea” gives prominence, with “Star Wars” leading lady Daisy Ridley contributing decent work as Ederle, a feisty firebrand determined to dismantle the belief that females were too dainty to become world-class athletes. It’s a sentiment that Bruckheimer and his “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” director Joachim Rønning repeatedly hammer home, just in case we didn’t grasp it the fourth or fifth time.
Accordingly, Ridley’s chief assignment is to hold her head high and let all the sexist remarks to roll off her muscular back as her Trudy goes about conquering the grueling 21-mile swim from Cape Gris-Naz, France to Kent, England. At times, it seems her only allies are her older sister, Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), and her childhood coach, Lottie Epstein (Sian Clifford).
Her parents (Kim Bodnia and Jeanette Hain) would prefer she choose the more feminine path by resigning herself to housewifery. This would be an expected desire given the era. Except in Mom’s case, it’s antithetical to what she encouraged in her daughters when they were little. And that is, you can do “anything” if you set your mind to it.
That’s not the only flaw in Jeff Nathanson’s adaptation of Glenn Stout’s “Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World.” Most flagrant is his decision to entirely erase Trudy’s Olympic success by informing us she came up empty – zilch – at the Paris Games in 1924. I get it, he’s attempting to up the motivation ante as Trudy turns her sights toward the Channel crossing. But it’s such an egregious omission it calls into question the veracity of the entire film.
It’s also indicative of the movie’s commitment to overindulge. It’s not enough that Trudy’s the only woman in a “man’s sport,” but she must constantly be reminded of it, be it by her Channel coach, Jabez Wolffe (Chris Eccleston), or chief benefactor, James Sullivan (Glenn Fleshler). Both are positively villainous. Appropriately so in the case of Wolffe, who actively sabotaged Trudy’s first attempt at crossing the Channel in 1925.
The hokey manner in which Rønning presents such incidents is in keeping with his film’s melodramatic approach. It’s corny to the max, particularly the many scenes of wholesome Americans glued to their boxy radios following Trudy’s progress as she inches closer and closer to immortality.
It’s all soooo old-time Hollywood. You’d swear “Young Woman and the Sea” was made in the 1940s and not the 2020s. Yet, I admit to eventually succumbing to the schmaltz. It’s a great David vs. Goliath tale that’s hard not to be invested in.
It might have been even more impactful were it not preceded by the vastly superior “Nyad,” and its tale of how 64-year-old Diana Nyad made the 90-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. It reigns supreme because it puts you inside Nyad’s head and depicts the effort and sacrifice that goes into training for a monumental task.
Rønning does little of that in his film. For him, it’s not about the feat, it’s about the uplift resulting from it, and thus diminishing the story’s ability to inform and understand. Not to mention keep it real. Just compare Annette Bening’s battered and swollen appearance after emerging from the water in “Nyad” to that of the runway-ready Ridley when she exits the drink here. It’s laughable.
It’s also disappointing. Ederle deserves better than what “Young Woman and the Sea” delivers. But at least her name is out there, sparing her the fate of being swept away by the tide of obscurity.
Movie review
Young Woman and the Sea
Rated: PG for partial nudity, thematic elements and some language
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Kim Bodnia, Jeanette Hain, Stephen Graham and Christopher Eccleston
Director: Joachim Rønning
Writer: Jeff Nathanson
Runtime: 129 minutes
Where: Debuting on Disney+ on July 19
Grade: B-
