She swims against the cold, storms, poisonous jellyfish and sharks, but also against sexist and age-related degradation: When long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad tried to swim from Cuba to Florida in 2013, she was 64 years old. It is her fifth attempt. With Annette Bening in the lead role, the film biography “Nyad” by directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin tells the story of the athlete and sports journalist without getting caught in emotional, dramaturgical traps.
The Netflix production tells of the dangers that Nyad swam against, both physically and mentally. Because the chances of surviving the 177 kilometers as the first person without a shark cage were slim. Nyad jumped into the water anyway and was celebrated wildly 53 hours later.
The outcome of Nyad’s venture is no secret; she made history. Rather, it is the marathon swimmer’s limitless drive to success that the film honors: the story about the sheer will and strength to never give up.
Behind the hard shell of the extreme athlete
Appropriately, Bening Nyad plays with almost arrogant doggedness. Your swimmer is neither warm nor sensitive, she doesn’t talk much and swears a lot. You don’t have to like Nyad, that’s not the point. Bening’s Nyad is a powerful portrait of an extreme athlete’s obsession. Her hard shell is only slowly softened with flashbacks; behind it, among other things, there are demons of abuse trauma at the hands of a trainer.
Nyad is supported by a small team including trainer Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster), navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans) and jellyfish expert Angel Yanagihara (Jeena Yi). They are the ones who breathe heart and emotion into the film, especially the outstanding Foster. Her portrayal as a loyal, humorous friend is the perfect counterpoint to Bening and makes her the most popular figure in the film.
The fact that the directors of the gripping drama are primarily documentary filmmakers is evident from the shots in the water. Vasarhelyi and Chin, who won an Oscar for their 2018 climbing film “Free Solo,” manage to capture the oppressive vastness of the sea with raw power. And as in “Free Solo,” it is her firm understanding of the psychology of those who allow themselves to be carried to physical extremes that ultimately moves the most deeply in “Nyad.”
