On Netflix, as Netflix is, Nyad, with Jodie Foster and Annette Bening

Stories of sport, of resistance, of achieving goals that require physical and, obviously, mental effort, in which the protagonist falls again and again without reaching his goal, take into account Nyadwith Annette Bening AND Jodie Fosterone of its best exponents.

The film is based on a true story, that of the athlete Diana Nyad. You need to have character, determination and strength so that tiredness does not cloud the goal. Nyad’s goal as a young man was to swim the 177 kilometers that separate Cuba from Florida, in the United States. No one had succeeded, and neither had she, on the first try.

Frustrated, she abandons the idea.

But years passed, and at 60, Nyad decided to be the first person to achieve this goal.

I wasn’t alone. Her best friend Bennie Stoll accompanied her on every attempt.

It’s true that Nyad is sometimes unbearable to say the least, but despite this Bonnie and the rest of the small entourage that accompanies her remain at her side, bordering on the unreasonable.

The same can be said of the spectator, comfortably seated in his living room.

In their fiction debut, documentary filmmaking duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Only free, The rescue) run the disadvantage that some or many know whether Diana Nyad swam for three days without a cage to isolate her from sharks, because the story is known. And she already had other films.

But they bet more on the personal relationship between the characters, both on the open sea and at home. And clearly without the acting chops and chops of both actresses, Nyad wouldn’t move the way she does.

The bond between Diana and Bonnie is complex, sometimes affectionate, sometimes moody. They seem more like a couple – which, for a short time, they were – than friends.

Because you have to count on what Bonnie is banking on: Diana is unbearably selfish and has built her character based on her mythology.

The scenes of swimming in the sea combine with Nyad’s memories, fears and dreams, which make the monotony of seeing someone swimming, with or without dangerous jellyfish around, more bearable.

An entire team

There is a sailor, John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans), a boy who speaks little but who knows the treacherous currents of that area and never stops showing his doubts. And a team to defend Nyad from sharks, using electronic pulses mounted on a kayak.

Story of dreams, and determination, courage and fortitude, Nyad He is followed with empathy at all times.

Annette Bening’s role is very demanding, from a physical point of view. Warren Beatty’s wife, nominated four times for an Oscar, one of which for American beauty, plays Nyad with admirable precision. She is a similar age, and both she and Foster bear a certain physical resemblance to Diana and Bennie, which she demonstrates when at the end, as in so many films, the real protagonists are shown.

Both were candidates golden globe, Bening for Lead Actress, Foster for Supporting Actress and the Screen Actors Guild nominated them again. Will they get to the Oscar?

“Niade”

Drama. United States, 2023. 121′, SAM 13. From: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. With: Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans, Anne Marie Kempf, Eric T. Miller. Available in: Netflix.