Hi!
We recently watched “Young Woman and the Sea” for the first time! I really enjoyed it!
I think it was really well produced. I have never heard of this story so it was all very fascinating to me! I left feeling very inspired and uplifted and the movie definitely drew us in and was very exhilarating. I think Daisy Ridley was a great cast pick for Trudy. She’s got a little sassiness and a lot of grit which was perfect for Trudy. Overall, I think the movie was great, the characters were lovable, there were some great, silly scenes, the story was compelling and inspiring and because of the time period and what it was showing, there was a lot I learned. Below, I’ll go a little more in-depth to all of this.
There were so many lovable characters! Especially, of course, Trudy, who you were rooting for from the beginning when she overcame the measles and that rough start to life. I liked seeing her passion of swimming and the sea. How she was so stubborn and determined throughout her life.
Also how her parents were or weren’t like her, how they supported or didn’t support her. I liked the transformation of the dad, and when he shows up to help her eventually. You can see that most of the reason he was holding her back was because he loved her. I like the relationship between Trudy and Benji. I like the female coach who ended up being a big cheerleader of her’s as well.
I also loved the bond between Trudy and her sister, Meg. Seeing how that was the case when they were younger, to when they’d swim in the ocean together and then started swimming on the team, to then that great moment when Meg jumps in to encourage and uplift Trudy when she’s swimming the canal. They had some fun shenanigans!
I loved the story leading up to the canal. There were a lot of great moments and it was a fascinating storyline.
There were some great scenes! I loveddd the scene where Trudy was with the guy her father was trying to arrange a marriage for her with, and Meg faked falling into the water and then pulled Trudy with her… “Nuts!!!!” 😂 Another great moment of the sister’s connection and shenanigans. I loved their laughing in that scene!
I also really enjoyed the part where Trudy swam the 7 miles from New York to New Jersey- and when she shows up in the guy’s car! I was not expecting that! And then her eating at the restaurant after, so funny. That was such a great moment.
I loved the part where she was starting the big swim for the second time- how the reporters were running after them, and then her sister and everyone left in the boat so they literally couldn’t follow them right away, and just how Trudy ran into the water there was so neat.
She had quite the funny personality at times, especially her eating! She definitely did not fit with the women in that time and they did a good job showing that. It was interesting to see the start of women’s swimming, after having watched it in the Olympics a few months ago! And of course seeing only the 8th Olympic Games in 1924 and how women doing sports were treated.
But I loved when she was swimming the channel for real, the second time. Just her tenacity and determination, especially through the jellyfish. Again, I loved that part where her sister jumped in to help her. The movie did a good job of showing Trudy not as this crazy, stoic person who just plowed through the whole time. She did- but she also struggled and was discouraged and got to her limits. Like after the jellyfish, and then at the end in the shallows when she lost her way. And finally when she was walking up the beach at the end, she was very distraught and emotional.
I could not imagine doing something like that! Swimming through hundreds of jellyfish as they are stinging you, swimming for hours and hours and being all alone at night, having lost the direction you were supposed to be going. How scary that would be!
It was very thrilling! I think all of us watching it were actually feeling scared and nervous at times, as if we were her!
So, there were a lot of great parts and I’m very glad we watched it. I’m looking forward to seeing it again!
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? I love movies like this that are very inspiring and empowering. But it can be harder to find ones that are also well produced and more modern- the movie came out this year so that’s probably why, but still, the actors and the production of it was really well done and it all fit together. I actually just found out that it was from the same producers of “Top Gun: Maverick”- that would make sense!
So it was a good combination of those two things!
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I know some of this may have been embellished for the movie, and that she would have needed a lot of determination to do something like this. I felt, however, that she was a little edgy at times and she was a little too determined to “die trying” and all that. I don’t know how much of that happened in real life, and I get that this was the main premise of the movie and they needed it to be interesting. I just wasn’t a fan of it all at times. I think overall, Daisy was great, I just felt her vibe was a little too unyielding at times and it all had a bit too much of the “she’s a woman” vibe, although I know this was all very revolutionary for women in that time.
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? One of my biggest takeaways was seeing the relationship between Trudy and her sister, Meg. It made me think of my relationship with my own sister and how I don’t think it’s as strong as their bond in certain areas. Maybe it just feels different because they’re older than us, but I’d like our relationship to be closer to theirs! Like their shenanigans, their support and genuine care for one another, being there for each other and just their overall closeness.
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? I’d like to learn more about the real Trudy Ederle, in fact, because of this, I recently got the book “Young Woman and the Sea” from the library!
Thank you for reading!
Lucy