The long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad realized her lifelong dream when she swam continuously from Cuba to Florida. Her greatest strength, however, cannot be found in her muscles or lungs. It is her obstinate, stubborn nature – qualities that nearly pushed her over the edge, and alienated her friends. Nyad, the new sports drama that covers this impressive episode from the swimmer’s life, does not pull punches about its flawed hero. She can be a strong-willed bully, the sort who thinks little about the mental toll she puts on others. While her unlikable nature is somewhat unusual in a film about sports, directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin are more successful in how they depict an extreme sport. The film is at its best when it is about survival.
When we meet Diana (Annette Bening), she is already in her sixties and resents the idea that her life no longer has any potential for accomplishment. After chatting with her best friend Bonnie (Jodie Foster), she realizes that swimming from Florida to Cuba – something she attempted in the prime of youth, and ultimately failed – must be her latest feat to conquer. Diana enlists Bonnie as her coach, then gets to work. Long-distance swimming is a sport that cannot be accomplished alone: a team must be her side, following along in a boat, to document the endeavor and protect her from the elements. Nyad is about problem-solving for a while. How do you navigate unpredictable tides? What about sharks? What about lethal jellyfish? One by one, Nyad figures out each problem, usually by hiring experts like the weary sea captain John (Rhys Ifans) who knows the Gulf of Mexico like the back of his hand.
You may recognize the name of Nyad’s directors, whose involvement lends the project some credibility. Chin is an avid mountaineer, who filmed his technically difficult climb in the documentary Meru. Together with Vasarhelyi, they also directed the film Free Solo, an Oscar-winning documentary about one man who climbed a mountain in Yosemite without any protective gear. In other words, they know their way around extreme sports and the kind of personalities drawn to them. Their participation means Nyad has a sense of realism, whether it is the kind of injuries Diana sustains on her multiple attempts to swim the Gulf, or a gearhead’s interest in the technical demands of the endeavor. Diana may swim for 60 hours nonstop, the kind of feat that sounds boring, and the directors’ nonfiction background is what imbues parts of the film with suspense. There are shark sequences that borrow from Jaws, to say nothing of the toll the swim takes on Diana. Parts of the film have us worrying, along with Bonnie, that she may lose her mind.
The more character-driven scenes are not as absorbing, despite being well-acted. That might be the fault of the script’s desire to present Diana, warts and all, as the kind of person who few can tolerate. She is a flawed protagonist, and it is only through her beleaguered support that the film finds a common cause worth celebrating. Bening makes no apologies for Diana, the kind of woman who must dominate every situation she’s in, no matter how mundane (flashbacks to her past, including a disturbing episode where she is sexually assaulted by a former coach, distract more than they illuminate). While Bening gives a committed performance, Foster is much more stirring as Bonnie. It has been years since Foster has had a meaty role like this, and she does not waste it. Her expressive face finds the right combination of being steady, while also full of worry, and there is clipped anger when Bonnie – frustrated by Diana’s flirtation with death – confronts her friend. Through Foster, Nyad finds an audience conduit and an emotional core that eludes Bening’s performance, no matter how often she speaks with life-affirming platitudes.
Diana Nyad is a controversial figure. Like any niche athlete who transcends a small community and receives worldwide attention, there is skepticism over her major accomplishments. Other long-distance swimmers have gone on the record about her Cuba swim, arguing she had the kinds of technical assistance that violate the rules of the sport. Nyad, to its credit, sidesteps all this controversy and keeps the action firmly in the POV of Diana, plus her crew. By the time Diana reaches the shore, delirious and barely able to step into Bonnie’s arms, her accomplishment does not require validation from her peers. It is entirely her own, something she finally proved to herself, although she is certainly enough of a braggart to capitalize on it.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
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