Coming on the heels of other, better films portraying stubborn women who caused headlines by swimming across great distances (Nyad, Young Woman and the Sea), this one creates a fictitious story about Sally Bauer, a Swedish woman who swam across the English Channel in 1939, five days before the start of World War II.

That’s a great subject for a biography, but these filmmakers are more interested in a contrived statement about motherhood. Ineffective storytelling, but Josefin Neldén is very good.

2024-Sweden-Finland-Estonia-Belgium. 120 min. Color. Directed by Frida Kempff. Screenplay: Frida Kempff, Marietta von Hauswolff von Baumgarten. Cast: Josefin Neldén (Sally Bauer), Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (Henry), Lisa Carlehed (Carla), Gunnel Fred, Seidi Haarla, Arthur Sörbring. 

Trivia: Original title: Den svenska torpeden. The real-life Bauer’s son, Carl-Axel, born years after this film’s story, plays a doctor.