Today Disney+ unveils its newest film Young Woman and the Sea.
Young Woman and the Sea tells the story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel.
We begin in 1904 with the sinking of the General Slocum paddle steamship on New York City’s East River and Trudy with a case of the measles, which she thankfully makes a recovery from. As a result of the tragedy, her mother Gertrude (Jeanette Hain), wants Trudy and sister Meg to get swimming lessons. However, the illness has made Trudy partially deaf meaning she can’t participate, and the teaching falls to her father Henry (Kim Bodnia), and she excels.
A few years pass and Trudy (Daisy Ridley) and Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) have grown up and both sign up for the Women’s Swimming Association, run by Charlotte ‘Eppy’ Epstein (Sian Clifford). Eppy puts Trudy on boiler duty but quickly realises that Trudy is made for the water.
After competing in the 1924 Olympics, Trudy makes an impact on women’s sport at a time when it rarely rated a mention. Though a flop, Trudy is a determined to make her mark when she spots a film about to make the 21-mile swim from France to England. And the rest, of course, is history.
Naturally, Trudy finds pushbacks, in the form of sponsor James Sullivan (Glenn Fleshler) and coach Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston). But it is Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham), who in 1911 was the second person to successfully swim the channel, who believes in Trudy’s abilities.
Penned by Jeff Nathanson and based on Glenn Stout’s Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World, the screenplay tells the story not many people would know of. With a top-shelf cast, it is Ridley and Cobham-Hervey who sparkle with their sisterly bond.
Full of heart and inspiration, Young Woman and the Sea is one not to be missed.
4 Stars
Young Woman and the Sea is now streaming on Disney+.
