Review: Young Woman and Sea

As I posted in May, I am always in a history mood. As a reader and a TV viewer, I go out of my way to find a good story set in the past.

So it was a real treat to find Young Woman and the Sea, a biographical sports film currently streaming on Disney Plus. Set mostly in New York and France in the 1920s, the movie chronicles the early life of Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

in the film, Ederle, the daugher of a German American butcher, overcomes sickness, poverty, and soul-crushing misogyny and sexism to win Olympic medals, set world records, and finally cross the Channel, which she did on August 6, 1926. She also sets an example that inspired young women and swimmers generally for decades.

I found the movie even more compelling than The Boys in the Boat, a similar work featuring young American athletes overcoming the odds in the interwar years. Despite the cruelty she faces, Ederle never gives up and never loses her humanity. She serves as a role model for all.

Though Young Woman, based on the 2009 book by Glenn Stout, takes a few liberties with timelines, it offers a mostly accurate depiction of events. Daisy Ridley stars as Ederle, while Jeanette Hain and Tilda Cobham-Hervey shine as the swimmer's mother and sister.

I would recommend the film to anyone, particularly young women and athletes who like an inspiring true story. Rating 4.5/5.