Young Woman and the Sea is a bit of a split narrative, one that I liked a lot more than the other but, combined, make for an entertaining sports and kicking against the patriarchy narrative.

It’s the true story of a young lady fighting for her right to swim… first at all, then professionally, in the Olympics, and ultimately crossing the English Channel.

Daisy Ridley is our titular young woman in the sea (and swimming pools) and she’s her usual winning self. Give me that smile any day. But comparing her performance to the grueling one from Annette Benning in Nyad and I think we can see a problem with this film. Benning made me exhausted and she looked like hell at the end… Ridley simply came out of the water looking like a Disney princess. It’s not her fault as a performer but a problem with the depiction of the big event that caps off the film.

But before that swim, the film is very engaging as we see Ridley punch her way into the history books by proving *gasp* women can *clutches pearls* swim. I know, right. Her heart didn’t even explode. And we get to see women’s swimming garb evolve over time, from a costume that’s more likely to drown you than not to a scandalous sports bra and bloomers set at the end. Just imagine the a-bomb of the Bikini… but we don’t get that far in this narrative.

So that “struggling against the man” portion of the film is endearing and inspiring… but the actual swim across the English Channel wasn’t paced well enough nor did we really get into the mind and exhaustion of an endurance swimmer. It almost let the whole movie down, especially with its length… but I had a smile at the end, especially with the return to NYC and the closing title cards. She lived HOW long??!

It’s a good movie but not as good as I’d been lead to be believe. But maybe that’s more on me than anyone else who finds the whole film inspiring. To them, I doff my swimming cap.

Score: 80