Nyad – Film Review
by Frank L.

Directors – Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
Writers Diana Nyad, Julia Cox
Stars – Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Anne Marie Kempf

Released on Netflix today.

Diana Nyad (Annette Benning) is a long-distance swimmer. She does not accept the idea that age is a limiting factor on her personal ambitions. The stretch of sea between Cuba and Key West, Florida is 110 miles. The challenge it represents to a swimmer is not only the distance but the substantial currents which are fickle and difficult to predict. It also has sharks and jellyfish. For anyone to attempt to swim it is a fearsome challenge. When Nyad decided to take on the challenge she was 60 years old.

Her lifelong friend and sometime partner Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) is persuaded (or possibly dragooned is a more appropriate word) to support her in this endeavour. It requires all sorts of support staff and money to achieve it. Nyad needs Stoll to attend to all of the consequential hard work that this entails. Nyad concentrates on the mental and physical challenges of the swim. Nyad’s first attempt was undermined in part because her team lacked sufficient understanding of the fickleness of the currents.

That deficiency is addressed by adding to the team John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans) who has made a detailed study of those currents. That study is part of his very existence. There are other challenges which arise and each has to be surmounted until aged 64 Nyad sets forth on her fifth attempt.

What makes the film so compelling are the performances of Benning and Foster. Benning relies on her innate skill as an actor. She wears no cosmetics and her hair is cropped short. The swimsuits that she wears are utilitarian. They are not designed to flatter the figure and they don’t. There is other protective clothing. But none of this matters as Benning gives a performance of single-minded determination. She conveys the overpowering ego which Nyad needs to have to attempt this challenge. The power of her performance is complemented by Foster in her role as confidante, manager and a woman of immense common sense. Her performance is so natural and understated that you forget that she is an actor. Benning and Foster together give a masterclass. In this task Rhys Ifans (John Bartlett), whose important role while secondary to the main ensemble, is also an admirable performance. Whatever initial doubts he may have held as Bartlett about the venture, once on board, he sticks to the area of his expertise keeping his advice measured and disciplined. The three of them together create a unique dynamic.

This is a first-rate biopic which makes for a gripping view. When the film awards season comes around; Benning, Foster and Ifans ought to feature in their respective categories. It is a privilege to watch such an accumulation of experience as it recreates the unique obsession of a 64-year-old as she battles with the unforgiving forces of nature.