“Nyad,” starring Annette Bening as Diana Nyad and Jodie Foster as Bonnie Stoll, her best friend and coach, is about more than swimming.
Much more.
It’s about ageism, sexism, narcissism, sexual abuse and friendship. And it’s about the human condition and what drives someone to the outer edges of extreme. Because any way you slice it, swimming from Cuba to Florida is at best extreme and at worst deadly. Nyad ups the deadly factor by swimming without a shark cage - something that’s never been done before.
The film is written by Julia Cox and directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, the married team behind “Free Solo” and “Meru.” “Nyad” is their narrative directorial debut and it seems they are the perfect directors for this film. Chin, a mountaineer himself, gets the maniacal mindset it takes to accomplish extreme feats and his wife, Vasarhelyi,understands the emotional toll these adventurers put on their loved ones.
The film’s time frame spans four years, from Nyad realizing at her 60th birthday that society wants women of a certain age to sit down, preferably in a rocker, and knit their way to the grave. She is overcome with this desire to stand up and be counted at 60. To mean something at 60. To never let the world forget this extraordinary 60-year-old woman. Four years and four attempts later at 64, Nyad lands on Florida’s shoreline after swimming 111 miles in nearly 53 hours unassisted in shark and jellyfish infested waters.
The scenes of Nyad swimming are terrifying. No beautiful oceanscapes here. It’s mostly choppy water, and nighttime terrors and an ocean filled with things that can kill. Knitting in a rocker seems the wiser choice. But not for Nyad. She’s wired differently than us mere mortals.
It’s no surprise that Bening’s performance is nothing short of extraordinary. Oscar nomination number five here we come! Her portrayal of Nyad is ferocious, and a one-track mindedness that borders on insanity. Does she think about anyone else but herself? Ever? The answer is simply no. It’s hard to watch at times, which I suppose is the point.
Foster’s performance is the antidote to the mania; a soft landing for not only Nyad, but also the audience. She’s a loyal best friend and coach and I must admit I wanted her to be a little more robust in her own self-care. Stoll sacrifices everything for Nyad, and I don’t think the film made it clear why. That was a missing factor for me.
There are flashbacks in the film that take us to a horrible time when Nyad, a star swimmer, was sexually abused by her coach. The flashbacks come when she’s in the water, taking one stroke after the other. Is this what she thinks about when she swims? Each stroke leading Nyad to healing this painful childhood wound?
I’d like to think that’s true and when she lands on the Florida shoreline, she finds a sense of closure and peace.
