To play Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, Daisy Ridley trained under the tutelage of Olympic swimmer Siobhan-Marie O’Connor. Ridley’s dedication to getting her character’s swimming technique down correctly is evident every moment she is in the water; the actress looking as if she could compete against any of the world’s best swimmers. Such a committed performance is a pleasure to watch. It is too bad that Joachim Rønning’s Young Woman and the Sea only stays afloat when the actress is in the water. Rønning’s is the type of film that presents its true subject on simplistic (and sometimes cartoonish) levels. This was the problem with many of Disney’s so-called “serious” films of the early 1980s. The “House of Mouse” produced this picture along with Jerry Bruckheimer and Paramount Pictures. Trudy Ederle’s story is certainly inspiring and we get a few uplifting moments, but the failure of the film as a whole lies in the screenplay’s superficial telling of the tale.

Adapting Glenn Stout’s book, Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World, screenwriter Jeff Nathanson captures Ederle’s “can do” spirit but draws every other character and situation in the most simplistic manner possible.

Set in 1920s New York, Young Woman and the Sea finds Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, a young woman who survived the measles as a child and desires to make her life count. Trudy’s father (a fine Kim Bodnia) runs the family butcher shop while her mother (Jeanette Hain, doing a lot with a little) does the womanly household duties of the time, although she is truly the glue that keeps the family together. Trudy’s younger brother (Ethan Rouse) is written as an afterthought while her sister Margaret (a solid Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is her best friend and source of encouragement.

The two sisters begin swimming in the Coney Island waters to earn free hot dogs from Nathan’s, a prize offered to those who can successfully swim around the pier. From there, Trudy and Margaret’s skills increase, as does their desire to compete in swim meets, something women of the time were not allowed to do. The sisters know they are as good, if not better, than most of the male swimmers and are determined to prove themselves.

Their mother finagles a deal with swim coach Charlotte Epstein (Sian Clifford). The pool is in the boiler room, as women aren’t allowed in pools where men swim. Coach Epstein agrees to let the sisters practice when the team has finished their exercises, as long as Trudy feeds the boiler. The coach feels she is too small and skinny to have what it takes. Eventually proving herself to Epstein, Trudy shows more strength and stamina than the rest of the girls. While Clifford’s character is fairly wasted, the actress gives a good performance and does her best to craft something memorable from her underwritten role.

Once Trudy begins to shine, Margaret’s swimming dreams fail to materialize, as she throws herself back into the dutiful suppression that swallowed up so many women of the era. Unfortunately, the film skimps on any real examination of Margaret’s tribulations.

Trudy proves herself  a supremely skilled swimmer, which earns her a spot on the US team for the 1924 Summer Olympics. Saddled with a sexist coach (a hammy Christopher Eccleston) who won’t let his team of “girls” train properly, Ederle fails to win the gold, her dreams shattered until setting her sights on the English Channel.