Young Woman and the Sea true story: How accurate is Daisy Ridley film?

It's a story which director Joachim Rønning wanted to tell as soon as he'd read the script, with the Norwegian recently telling RadioTimes.com that he couldn't believe the tale wasn't more widely known.

"I wasn't familiar at all with the story until I read Jeff Nathanson's script, almost 10 years ago," he said in an exclusive interview. "And I was baffled that I didn't know the story – and that was actually part of the intrigue for me, that, how come I don't know this story?

"It was such a huge world event when it happened, and probably changed women's sports forever, in many ways. So I almost felt an obligation to retell this story, you know, to my daughters, to a modern audience, and put Trudy the back on the map."

The film features a range of colourful characters brought to life by well-known actors including Christopher Eccleston and Stephen Graham – but just how accurate is it to real events? Read on for everything you need to know.

Young Woman and the Sea true story: How accurate is Disney Plus film?

The film is for the most part very faithful to real events – adapted from the well-researched non-fiction book of the same name by Glenn Stout.

As is shown in the film, Ederle experienced many obstacles in early life that made such a prodigious athletic career unlikely – including a childhood battle with measles that ultimately left her almost completely deaf – while her treacherous swim across the channel is also brought to life with much accuracy.

That said, there are a couple of details that the film changes for dramatic purposes. The first of these is that it omits to mention that Ederle won a gold medal – in the 4x100m freestyle relay – at the 2024 Paris Olympics, with the movie instead presenting her experience at the Games as a disappointment that eventually helped spur her on to her ultimate triumph.

Meanwhile, although Ecclestone's character Jabez Wolffe was very much a real man and did initially serve as Ederle's coach, a couple of details seem to have been invented to make him more overtly villainous, such as the scene with the tea.

As is often the case with biopics, the film also somewhat condenses things time-wise. There was actually an entire year between Ederle's aborted first attempt and her eventual successful crossing, whereas the film makes it seem like only a matter of days had passed.

But the film is nonetheless mostly true to real events – from the eccentricity of Ederle's second coach Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham) to the rapturous reception she received upon returning to New York, which as the film explains at the end remains the biggest parade for an athlete in the history of the Big Apple.

"It's insane," Rønning said of the record. "And I'm so happy they have footage, the real footage of it, because it's almost unbelievable!"
As well as telling the story accurately, the director also wanted to ensure that the period was believably captured from a visual standpoint – and did "absolutely tons of research" to make this possible.
"I had an amazing crew around me that did tons of research to build it," he said. "And just recreating New York 100 years ago without making it too cliche... we wanted to make it feel textured, and real and a little gritty and so it's very important, especially when you tell a true story – it needs to have that special love."

Young Woman and the Sea is now streaming on Disney Plus – sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year.

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