You’re not used to something like this from Matthias Schweighöfer: It takes a full 92 minutes for the acting star to be seen for the first time in “Die Schwimmerinnen” – a “crime scene” would already be over by then. But two sisters play the main roles in the Netflix international drama (launch: November 23). Her story didn’t just stir the sports world in 2016.
Who Yusra and Sarah Mardini are
Yusra and Sarah Mardini (played convincingly by Lebanese sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa) are two perfectly normal Syrian teenagers who party in Damascus, listen to music and take swimming lessons from their ambitious father until they flee to Europe. Her goal: to start at the Olympic Games at some point. In the midst of this everyday life, the bombs of the civil war fall.
“They just wanted to get on with their lives, just like here. There is no difference – except for the security concerns,” explains Schweighöfer in an interview with the German Press Agency. “It was important for the director to show that refugees are completely normal people.”
Escape and life after
The drama by the Arab-born filmmaker Sally El Hosaini shows the risky path of 2015 via Turkey, Greece and Hungary to Berlin in detail and relentlessly. In front of the island of Lesbos, there are oppressive scenes on the completely overcrowded rubber dinghy. The two sisters jump overboard, spend hours in the cold water and save the group – including mothers with small children.
“You see the film and at first have the feeling that it’s from a different time. But it’s not from a different time at all – it’s all still happening today,” says Schweighöfer. He plays the always smiling swimming coach Sven Spanekrebs, who takes “the swimmers” under his wing at the Spandau 04 water club.
While Sarah enjoys the party life in Berlin, Yusra fights relentlessly for her dream – and actually makes it to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro – where she competes in a refugee team and wins the 100 meter butterfly heat. The pictures of the games, shot in London, form the conclusion of the almost two and a half hour film drama, which is based on Yusra’s biography “Butterfly”.
What the real swimmer says about the film
“It was not easy putting the story in the hands of strangers. You never know what will come out of it in the end. But we are very happy with the result,” the 24-year-old told ET Canada television at the premiere in Toronto.
The Olympic swimmer is now a UN ambassador and has German citizenship. She could therefore start in Paris for Germany in 2024. Her older sister Sarah was accused of helping refugees in Greece a few years ago. It is currently unclear whether she will be tried.
