Movie · 2024 · History, Drama · 2h 9m · PG · English
Curator score: 6.2/10 (55K ratings)
Defy the odds.
Overview
This is the extraordinary true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel. Through the steadfast support of her older sister and supportive trainers, she overcame adversity and the animosity of a patriarchal society to rise through the ranks of the Olympic swimming team and complete the 21-mile trek from France to England.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.2/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.73/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 7.9/10
Director
Joachim Rønning
Production
Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Cast
Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Stephen Graham, Kim Bodnia, Jeanette Hain, Glenn Fleshler, Sian Clifford, Christopher Eccleston, Ethan Rouse, Olive Abercrombie, Lilly Aspell, Raphael J. Bishop, Alex Hassell, Alexander Karim, Sebastian Griegel, Doc Butler, Yordan Angelov, Robert Eades, Hyoie O'Grady, Devina Vassileva
Where to watch
Disney Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A sturdy, old-fashioned inspirational sports drama with a strong central performance and a genuinely stirring underdog arc. It doesn’t reinvent the biopic, but it delivers emotional uplift, period detail, and enough physical ordeal to make the achievement feel earned.
Best for
Viewers who like true-story triumph narratives
Fans of feel-good sports dramas
Audiences looking for an accessible family-friendly historical drama
Anyone who enjoys performance-driven inspiration over formal experimentation
Skip if
You’re tired of conventional biopic structure
You want a gritty or psychologically complex sports film
You dislike sentimental, crowd-pleasing storytelling
You prefer movies that take big stylistic risks
Overview
Young Woman and the Sea is a classic inspirational sports movie in the best and most familiar sense: clear stakes, visible obstacles, and a lead performance that keeps the whole thing buoyant. Daisy Ridley gives Trudy Ederle a mix of grit, warmth, and determination that makes the film easy to root for even when you can see every beat coming a mile away.
Worth noting
The movie works because it treats the swim as both a physical challenge and a social one. The period sexism is blunt but effective, and the training-and-endurance material has enough texture to make the eventual crossing feel hard-won. It’s not especially surprising, but it is consistently engaging and emotionally direct.
Bottom line
If you want a polished, crowd-pleasing true story with a strong sense of momentum, this lands well. It’s the kind of movie that knows exactly what it is and delivers it with conviction, even if it stays comfortably within the lines.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Patrick Willems · 704 likes
We could be a proper country again if Disney would just give us one of these super solid inspirational sports movies every year like they used to
Kylo (4.5★) · 559 likes
Girl just wanted to swim. Well, that led to so much more. There’s something so inspiring about people who fight to be anywhere but where they are. The courage not to accept what’s given. Daisy Ridley’s phenomenal and paired with a superior sports drama here.
Sean Fennessey (3★) · 435 likes
Joachim Rønning has directed the worst Pirates movie, an utterly bizarre Maleficent sequel that’s a metaphor for Trump-Hillary, and this plucky little Disney classic sports inspirer. For his next act, he will direct the third Tron movie. Insane career.
júlia (4★) · 428 likes
a truly inspiring biopic that made me cry so many times, with one of daisy ridley's best performances. thank you so much trudy for blazing a path for the next generations of female athletes <3
side note: that jellyfish scene tho... pure agony
ndc32002 (4★) · 395 likes
before there was run forrest run, there was swim trudy swim
2017 · Drama, Crime · 2h 21m · R · Curator 5.6/10 (462.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A strong woman navigating a male-dominated world, with a propulsive true-story structure.
2010 · Drama · 1h 56m · R · Curator 7.6/10 (688.8K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A gritty but uplifting sports biopic with family dynamics and hard-earned victory.